The Heritage Motor Centre has a whole host of special events and activities for the family to enjoy during the Easter holidays from the 23 March – 7 April.  The Land Rover customised for Aardman Productions 'Shaun the Sheep’, will take centre stage supported by a series of themed special family activities.

Families can explore the sights and sounds of the museum with a quiz designed to educate and entertain the whole family.  New this year is an outdoor children’s play area featuring a new galleon ship climbing frame offering a variety of challenges, both mental and physical.

On Thursday 28 March and Thursday 4 April children can make their own ‘Shaun’ or ‘Timmy’ pompom sheep or face masks whilst older children may prefer to design and decorate their own model Land Rover. Children can get inspiration from around the museum or simply let their creative skills run wild with their very own unique designs.

The baaaringly good ‘Find the Flock’ Easter Trail runs from Thursday 28 March – Monday 1 April. Children who complete the trail can earn an Easter treat.

On Thursday 4 April youngsters can discover how to create stop-frame animation film in ‘hands on’ drop in sessions from 10.30am - 3.30pm. Animator, Tom Grainger, will be on hand to show how to make puppets, build sets, create story boards, animate and edit a short film.  Youngsters will be introduced to a range of stop-motion techniques and learn how to make their own short experimental films.

Or why not enjoy a ride in a real Land Rover – take a 20 minute taster session to experience the thrills and spills of off-road driving. These run daily with qualified instructors driving around a challenging off-road course over rocky inclines, steep descents and some pretty impressive water sections. Not suitable for children under 5 years. £9 Adult, £6 Child.

Great for bored teenagers! The range of Stop Start Driving Lessons are designed for teenagers aged 15+, to experience and learn some fundamental driving skills in dual controlled vehicles. Each hour long lesson costs just £45 which also includes entrance to the museum for the driver.  Pre booking is essential, call 01926 645128, price includes entrance to the Museum for the driver.

Museum entry fees are: Adults £12, Child £8 (5-16 years) under 5 free, Concessions £10 & Family £34 (2 adults & up to 3 children).  For more information about any of these events please visit www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk or call 01926 641188.

BBC News reported last week, that the RAC Foundation along with Fair Fuel UK were calling upon the Chancellor to cut fuel duty in the budget this month in order to relieve hardship for members of the public.

It was quoted that a quarter of people’s salaries are spent on running their cars. In some areas fuel has risen by as much as 4p in a week, yet more than half of the price of a litre of unleaded at the pumps is tax and VAT. Both petrol and diesel are approaching record levels, yet little, if anything has been reported about the impact that the soaring fuel tax has on charities that such as The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes, who each year are forced to meet such costs.

The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes is a charity that transports blood, plasma, platelets, samples, vaccines, human breast milk and other urgently required medical items to hospitals and special baby units - completely free of charge. It is run by dedicated volunteers who receive no financial compensation for their time or costs, allowing the NHS to divert funds to where they are needed most. This out of hour’s medical essentials courier service completely depends on public donations.

Ahead of the budget on March 20 2013 - the charity has launched a campaign to force a debate about tax cuts for them and other 'blood bikes' operating in the UK. The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes have lodged a petition with the Treasury, calling on the government to have an urgent review of this situation and in doing so, to call upon the government to return in the form of grants to Bloodbike member groups all future fuel duty which the Treasury collects from them.

So far over 1400 people have signed the petition which closes tomorrow! http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31185

National Association of Bloodbikes Treasurer Gordon Downie said: "Our fuel costs are just going up and up and that makes it very difficult for us to continue our vital service. With no assistance or government funding, charities like ours are already feeling the strain on the recession, but it’s the fuel costs that hits us the hardest, not getting any exemption from fuel duty. We are hoping people will back our campaign to force the Government to debate that matter. Allowing The National Association of Blood Bike groups to recoup fuel duty would not only assist us, but to the public and NHS at large – as we could be able expand the vital service operations throughout the country.”

Will your next journey save a life?

Why do we need The National Association of Blood Bikes...

The National Health Service does not have unlimited resources. One area that is very costly to the NHS is courier services. Most hospitals operate an internal courier service to ferry diagnostic specimens, blood, notes, x-rays, scans and other medical equipment between themselves and other hospitals in the area. These services generally operate during office hours, which means that in the evening and at weekends the hospitals need to make alternative provision for items that need to be transported there and then. In many cases this alternative provision is to use a taxi. With taxi rates around £2 per mile and even more at night, it doesn't take much for a hospital to run up huge bills. In the South West of England, for example, NHS Blood and Transplant have a regional processing and distribution centre at Filton near Bristol. Many hospitals across the South and South West of England send samples to Filton for urgent cross-matching. This can involve journeys such as 100 miles from QA Hospital in Portsmouth costing £240, or 80 miles from the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital costing £190, but the blood bikes that do this for free, often working together so that a blood bike group in one area hands over at the edge of its area to their neighbouring group. This relay approach used by blood bike guards against rider fatigue on long journeys, ensuring safe and efficient transport of precious cargo as well as protecting rider safety.

So why should blood bike groups do this? It is very simple - if they didn't then more money would have to be found from the taxpayer. Blood bike volunteers give their time, and sometimes their own money, freely. In 2010, just one NABB member group made 2,500 deliveries and travelled over 100,000 miles at a cost of around £25,000 - all of which was paid for by charitable donations. If the NHS had used taxis for the same journeys it would have cost more than £120,000. If hospitals had tried to do it using their own motorcycles and paid staff it would have cost closer to £300,000.

Saving Lives

There are times when blood or other medical items need to be transported urgently because a patient's life is at risk. A blood bike can be relied upon to respond quickly and move with ease through busy traffic, even if it is not fitted with emergency lights and sirens. Furthermore the groups can guarantee to be available after 11:00pm on a Saturday night when the chances of getting a taxi to respond in less than an hour would be slim. To steal from the Mastercard advertisements, Taxi - £100, Commercial courier - £80, Blood Bike - £0, saving a patient's life - priceless!

Car drivers are being urged to see the person behind the helmet and take longer to look for motorcyclists in the latest THINK! motorcycle safety campaign, launched today by Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond.

The £1.3m campaign, timed to coincide with the anticipated Spring increase in motorcyclists’ return to the roads, encourages drivers to take longer to look for motorcyclists and think about the biker, not just the bike.

Stephen Hammond said:

“Motorcyclists account for just 1% of traffic but 19% of deaths on Britain’s roads and 30 bikers are killed or injured in accidents at junctions every day. I am determined to reduce this terrible toll. That is why we are funding this THINK! campaign to remind drivers to look out for motorcyclists - particularly at junctions - and to see the person behind the helmet not just a motorbike."

 The campaign was informed by accident statistics, which show that motorists pulling out in front of motorcyclists is a major cause of deaths and injuries; and wider research showing that drivers are more likely to notice motorcyclists on the roads if they know a biker themselves.

Visit the THINK! website

In 2011, 5,609 motorcyclists were killed or seriously injured with 74% of these occurring in accidents involving another vehicle. 69% of these casualties happened at junctions. The number of accidents increases significantly during March and April as improved weather encourages more motorcyclists onto the road.

The THINK! campaign targeting motorists will run from March to May with messages delivered through radio advertising and in petrol stations when the call to action is more closely linked to the behaviour THINK! is seeking to change. Wider awareness will be generated through TV video on demand advertising, targeting younger drivers in particular.

IAM director of policy and research Neil Greig said: "The IAM can welcome this report as the biggest step forward in the drug driving debate since drugs first started to feature in crashes."  

"Setting limits based on a drug's effect on driving opens up a whole new approach to enforcement and sends a very strong message that it is unacceptable to have drugs in your system behind the wheel. The IAM is also very encouraged by the panel's finding that drugs mixed with alcohol are an extra danger and the setting of lower limits when alcohol is present is very good approach. We also support the panel's finding that more research is needed such as routine blood sampling at road traffic crashes to quantify the exact level of drug driving. 

This is a complex issue and awareness raising campaigns for drivers, patients and the medical profession must be a top priority."

On Thursday 7 March 2013 the Royal Automobile Club awarded the historic Segrave Trophy to John Surtees OBE.

The 2012 Segrave Trophy citation reads: For his outstanding career in two and four wheeled motorsport, including seven motorcycle world championship titles, culminating in the unique achievement of being the only man to win a motorcycle World Championship and the Formula One World Championship.  

Speaking at the awards Tom Purves, Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, said: "John is one of the most accomplished and versatile sportsmen of all time, winning seven motorcycle world championships and then victory in the 1964 Formula One World Championship. He is the only person in history to have won world championships on both two wheels and four yet, until today, John’s name was not on the distinguished list of Segrave Trophy winners. This award is made to John not as recognition of a lifetime of achievement, but as a, somewhat overdue, recognition of a unique sporting triumph that would, doubtlessly, have been recognised at the time had it not been for Donald Campbell who broke the land and water speed records simultaneously the same year. It is therefore our great honour to salute John’s successes, albeit perhaps a little later than we should have done”.  

Upon receiving the trophy, Surtees said “Donald Campbell achieved his success on land and water in the same year which perhaps overshadowed my having taken 4 years to put two and four wheel titles together. I am honoured, as I approach the fiftieth anniversary of my Formula One World Championship title, to receive this prestigious Trophy on behalf of not only myself but also the world of two and four wheel motorsport.”  

John started out his racing career as a passenger for his father – a top sidecar racer – and although they finished first the Surtees duo was disqualified when it was discovered that John was too young to compete within the rules. Undeterred, he began competing on motorbikes in road races, and at just 19 years old, he joined the celebrated Norton works team. Two years later he was given his break with the MV Agusta team and duly won the 500cc World Championship – the first of seven world titles he secured in just five years and which resulted in the award of an MBE.  

In 1960, Surtees mixed two wheels with four by driving in Formula Junior, F1 as well as for MV Agusta. Despite an offer in 1961 to drive for Lotus in F1, Surtees opted for a Cooper run by Reg Parnell. He moved to Ferrari in 1963 and took his first Grand Prix victory, and went on to win the F1 World Championship the next season. Surtees became the only 'Grand Master' of both two and four wheels.  

John’s career continued beyond his Formula One Championship year and in 1966, he was second in the World Championship. He has raced motor cycles and just about every type of car with remarkable success in almost every discipline: Formula One, Can-Am Championship, F2, F5000 to Le Mans. As an engineer it is widely recognized that his input was a key part of bringing success to Ferrari in 1964.  

As Vice President of the British Racing Drivers' Club and a consultant to Buckmore Park Kart Circuit, Surtees has worked tirelessly to encourage British racing talent, and was team principal for A1 Team Great Britain. In 2008 Surtees was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for 'services to motorsport and charity'. He set up the Henry Surtees Foundation in memory of his son who was tragically killed in a freak accident while driving in a Formula 2 race at Brands Hatch in 2009.

The Foundation aims 'to give more young people from the community at large an opportunity to experience the emotion, disciplines and learning that the world of motorsport can offer'.  

John lives in Surrey, England.