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Category: Charity
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The National Association For Bikers with a Disability (NABD) is in its twentieth year with a very proud record of helping around 10,000 disabled people to enjoy the freedom and independence of motorcycling.
Throughout this time we have remained dedicated to our belief that registered charities such as ours should not spend vast amounts of money on wages, expenses and fancy offices. To this end we have remained a voluntary organisation with only two employees (two lovely ladies who take care of the office and daily administration) and we have one of the least generous and most restrictive system of expense claims in the charity world. Our office and storage facility is small industrial unit on an industrial estate. The NABD is also one of those extremely rare charities that have guaranteed for twenty years that 100% of every donation has been used specifically for the purpose it was donated.
Unfortunately, like everybody else, the NABD has been hit hard by this current recession and now we need your support more than ever before.
Many bikers all over Britain get involved in raising money for a wide range of charities but most seem to support massively oversubscribed charities that already have millions of pounds in the bank like Children In Need, Comic Relief, Help For Heroes or Cancer Research. We all know that these charities provide much needed services and support for deserving people but the fact remains that they have vast resources and they enjoy huge support from all parts of society.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about; on just one day in 2011, Children in Need raised more than £26 million in the UK. Comic Relief raised £74 million in 2011. Cancer Research raised an almost unbelievable £433 million in 2010 and each of these charities gets huge support from within the motorcycle scene.
The NABD has to rely purely on support from within the motorcycle scene and although this support has previously enabled us to become the world leaders in the field of motorcycling for disabled people and this in turn has given us the ability to develop new and better solutions to the problems faced by disabled motorcyclists, we have recently seen a marked fall-off in support from motorcyclists and motorcycle groups. And we do not need millions; in fact the best financial year in our history featured total donations of little over £68,000.
One of the most important aspects of the services offered by the NABD is our system for making financial grants to help disabled riders to pay for the necessary adaptations to bikes, trikes and sidecar outfits. Now for the first time since 1999 we have been forced by the current financial situation to suspend this grants system due to lack of funds.
It is our fervent hope that this awful situation is a temporary one, but without a marked resurgence in support from within the motorcycle scene this much needed service, and others, will not be available to those fellow bikers who need it so much if they are to regain their freedom and independence through motorcycling.
Please don't leap to the incorrect conclusion that the NABD is in danger of disappearing, this is not the case and nor will it be the case in the foreseeable future. However, in the current economic climate, more people than ever are requesting our help and we have already paid or agreed to over £74,000 worth of grants in the 8 months of this financial year. To put that into perspective, our previous record in one entire year was just over £70,000. Whilst we can afford to pay for these, we cannot, at the present time, agree to any more. We simply don’t have the money.
The NABD needs your support now. If your club is having a party, why not make it a fund-raiser for the NABD? Why not ask your local bikers pub to run a raffle or a party to raise funds for the NABD? Or you could simply become a member of the NABD for £20 (you don't have to be disabled to join and support our aims). You can buy NABD supporters patches and other NABD merchandise via the shop on www.nabd.org.uk we also have You've Been Nabbed 21 rally tickets for sale via the web site or by calling 0844 415 4849
Please help the NABD in its hour of need, it's the biker’s charity and bikers are the only people who make it all work.
Donations can be sent to: NABD, Unit 20, The Bridgewater Centre, Robson Avenue, Urmston, Manchester, M40 7TE or you can donate on line www.nabd.org.uk or by phone 0844 415 4849
The NABD, is a biker's charity run by bikers for bikers with disabilities and it needs your help now...
Rick Hulse
NABD Chairman
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...is the umbrella organisation representing 12 regional blood bike charities, all providing a motorcycle based, free delivery service to the NHS; moving vital medical supplies, blood and pathology samples from medical centres and hospitals throughout the UK.
Recently NABB member groups have become involved in the transport of frozen human milk from the donor to the milk processing hospitals. This has been a real life saver due to the necessity of very premature babies intolerance to anything but human milk.
Run entirely by volunteers, NABB member groups have over 700 active members with a fleet of 35+ emergency response motorcycles. All NABB riders have an Advanced Riding qualification, are trained in the movement of medical essentials and operate from individual regional charities, but with a common goal, to alleviate suffering and reduce the funding pressures on the NHS.
NABB was formed in 2010 and is chaired by Gloucestershire man, Gordon Downie.
Severn Freewheelers are the regional Blood Bike group operating in Gloucestershire, Hereford & Worcester and North Wiltshire. Over 70 volunteers help Severn Freewheelers carry out their much needed service. Severn Freewheelers run 4 x BMW R1200RTs and a Honda Deauville, all emergency response equipped and handle some 3000 call outs per annum.
www.bloodbikes.org.uk
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While most of the UK’s population is sleeping, Roger is riding his Honda bike with a precious cargo on-board. He is delivering blood to hospitals in the surrounding areas.
A volunteer with the charity SERV, he uses his own free time and resources to give something back to the community. The charity SERV (Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers) delivers emergency blood, medical equipment and drugs at night to local hospitals safely, quickly and reliably.
Volunteers - known as Blood Runners, can be called out at a moments notice, to transport the vital cargo to its final destination. The charity provides a vital service completely free of charge and on a voluntary basis, 365 nights of the year. Dealing with something as critical as a person’s life, Roger relies on his Honda bike to get him there quickly and safely – delivering the vital blood to the waiting medical staff on time...
This article is sponsored by Honda
For more information, see here:
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SERV – The Emergency Blood Transport Charity who already provide an emergency out of hours blood transport service, free of charge to local hospitals (including Northampton & Kettering General) and more recently rolled out their service transporting life saving donated breast milk to the Human Milk Banks, have now been asked to extend its service to include transporting urgent samples to Birmingham to test for a condition that can be potentially fatal to an unborn child. Karen Spreckley - Blood Transfusion Laboratory Manager, Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust explains; “Northampton General Hospital processes all the blood group and antibody, and infectious disease screening antenatal work for the whole of the East Midlands population. Now whilst this screening work is routine initially, it sometimes throws up the fact that a woman has a red cell antibody (about 3% of all cases) that can adversely affect her baby (worst case scenario is death of the baby). Where certain types of these antibodies exist – Anti-D or Anti-c, we have to send the samples to the Blood Service in Birmingham for additional testing, and this all has to be done quickly in order that the mother and baby can be treated if required” Haemolytic disease of the newborn is a condition where antibodies in a pregnant woman’s blood can attack her baby's blood cells.
Haemolytic disease of the newborn, caused by Anti-D is usually the most severe form, but this can be prevented with an injection of anti-D immunoglobulin during pregnancy and at delivery. This scheme has reduced the number of cases of Haemolytic disease of the newborn, caused by Anti-D in the UK, by 90%. The injection is given to women with Rhesus negative blood and prevents the woman developing the Anti-D antibodies that can attack the baby’s blood.
If Haemolytic disease of the newborn is left untreated, the effects can be jaundice in the newborn baby which can lead to learning difficulties, deafness, and blindness and in severe cases death, either before birth, or shortly afterwards. SERV expect to carry out over 1,000 life saving runs in this region throughout 2011, however demand on the service could dramatically increase by 50% as result of these runs to Birmingham.
The charity is looking for riders or drivers who hold or are working towards an advanced riding/driving qualification.
SERV also needs to raise funds to purchase an additional dedicated emergency response bike to help meet the increased demand.
A dedicated response bike costs around £7,000 to purchase and a further £3,000 per year, a dedicated response car costs £3,000 to set up + £3,400 per annum lease
If you are able to give just 3-4 evenings or a weekend per month as a rider/driver/controller or fundraiser or are able to help with funding please contact SERV’s publicity officer Danny Bateman - [email protected] or visit www.serv.org.uk for more details.
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Rat Bikes, Rat Rods and other rodent inspired vehicles are all welcome to attend the cafe from 8am on Sunday 30th October, but all should be aware that 'The Cat' and friends will also be present!
'The Cat', Danny John-Jules, together with Steve Keys and Matt Roberts will be departing the cafe at 10am on their 'Viva Valencia' ride to the final round of MotoGP 2011, all in aid of the charity 'Riders for Health'.
Raise a paw and wave them off! As well as 'The Cat' riding his Pink bike, Matt Roberts will be riding the unique Jorge Lorenzo Tribute bike, built especially for Lorenzo to ride around TT 2010 - on it's return to the UK the bike is to be auctioned, in aid of Riders for Health, at the forthcoming NEC Birmingham Motorcycle Live Show www.motorcyclelive.co.uk
To help look after The Cat, the Rats and their friends, will be 'kittens' courtesy of Carole Nash and, if stripes are your thing, graphic artist and pinstriper Johnny 'Rat' Bradnam will be on hand with his paint van!
More information about Viva Valencia and to donate to Riders for Health, check out: www.motoventures.co.uk
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