Midland Freewheelers fundraising at Tesco, Brownhills – image from their Facebook page.

Yesterday evening I received a lovely message of thanks to the people of Brownhills from Kevin Osborne of the Midland Freewheelers – the voluntary organisation of bikers who perform urgent courier services for NHS services out of hours.

They are a great organisation who deserve our wholehearted support, and they were on a fundraising drive over the weekend at Tesco in Brownhills. Although the organisation has no paid employees, fuel and other costs need to be met so fundraising like this is vital.

You can find out about the Midland Freewheelers on the website here, and they have a great Facebook page here.

It seems the Freewheelers had a great weekend fundraising in Brownhills and raised more than ever they have before. Brownhills, I’m proud of you. Well done.

Kevin, if you have anything you’d like to say or publicise, please do get in touch – I offer you my full support. Great bunch of people doing vital work. Thank you all.

Kevin Osborne wrote:

Bob

I don’t know if you were about in Brownhills this weekend near Tesco, but I was stood with a Blood Bike collecting for Midland Freewheelers from 10am to 4pm both days.

Now on average we might expect upto £300 over a weekend but the good folk of Brownhills dug deep and we collected nearly £500.

I would just like to say a big thank you to the people of Brownhills and promise them that every penny goes into running our bikes with our volunteer riders and coordinators helping the NHS deliver vital supplies in the out of hours slots. We are based at New Cross over the weekend from 7pm Friday to 6pm Sunday and during the week we deliver donated breast milk all over the west midlands from Tuesday to Thursday.

There absolutely no paid employees in ours or any other Blood Bike group. Very similar to the Air Ambulance, Life Boat service and Mountain rescue, not forgetting the Scouting and Brownies movements. Don’t you think it is great that our Country has a proud tradition of volunteering for the benefit of the local communities in which they live? Of course there are many voluntary organisations which make up the fabric of our society.

‘Call me Dave’ did not invent the Big Society and it’s funny how he never seems to refer to it now. Anyway before I get too political I will sign off by saying a huge THANK YOU to the people of Brownhills. Not the most wealthiest region in which we collect but certainly the most generous. As I think £500 is a record for us collecting outside a supermarket.

Kevin Osborne
Secretary, Midland Freewheelers