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Blood Bikes Santa Run is back for 2025 and this year YOU can get involved by donating to the gift/toy list fundraiser.

Every year our volunteers love to spread a bit of festive joy by delivering gifts/toys to children’s wards in hospitals across our region. Each year we have members of the public asking how they can donate too so below is a link to the fundraising page we have set up. All money donated to this crowdfunder will be used to purchase items on the special Santa list we have for the hospitals.

Milk Run Relay 

Today we joined SERV (Service by Emergency Response Volunteers) Herts & Beds along with Derbyshire Blood Bikes in a relay donated Human Breast Milk from The Herts Milk Bank to Sunderland Royal Hospital, South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and to the Royal Victoria Infirmary,  The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

 

Another fantastic Induction Session, over the weekend, at Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Training Centre. A great mix of Riders, Drivers, Shift Controllers and Fundraisers. 

Welcome to the team and our blood bike family.

 

Want to run to make a difference? By joining #TeamBloodBikes and raising money for our small North East England based charity you’ll do just that when you take part in Great North Run 2026.

Sign up today for #BloodBikesGNR via:

http://www.northumbriabloodbikes.org.uk/gnr
 

 

We are very grateful to our volunteers for the time they give to our charity. Every three months we have the honour to present our volunteers with recognition awards for achieving milestone shift totals. 

Last night we awarded Adrian, Michael and Tony their ‘Bronze Award’ for completing 25 shifts, Andrea and Sam their ‘Gold Award’ for completing 100 shifts and Paul his ‘Gold/Red Award’ for completing 200 shifts.

Thank you to each and every one of our volunteers and congratulations!

Volunteer of the year 2025

Each year at our charity’s AGM we announce the winner of this award following nominations from our volunteers. 

This year’s winner was nominated for regularly covering shifts and stepping in to prevent suspension of service. They also regularly stay on longer to allow the next person time to take over. They not only cover shift control but also attend fundraising event when they are able to.

Their attitude is to be applauded as they say they would ‘feel guilty’ if the shift wasn’t filled.

New name. New colours. They’ve grown, they’ve changed — but still proudly supporting Northumbria Blood Bikes - Chester-le-Street Oranges U14s

Stormin the Castle and its attendees…you are absolutely amazing! You donated a staggering £1539.75 to our charity. Thank you so very much for your support and generosity.

In real terms that amount will cover the cost of us completing 513 jobs free of charge for the NHS. That’s 513 people’s healthcare journeys were able to support or lives saved thanks to your donations.

We’d like to extend a special thank you to the late Kevin Apedaile’s friends who handed over £300 from the sale of his bike gear and to Kevin’s wife who wanted the funds to be donated.

365 days of the year we deliver blood and plasma to the Great North Air Ambulance Service on an evening - Blood on Board.

We also offer a resupply service during the day should they require additional units of blood. Today such a call came through to committee on call requesting a resupply. Within minutes of the call a volunteer was on route to complete the job.