About

Hello and welcome to my fundraising page...

My name is Steve Hughes and on Sunday 21st June 2015 - the Summer Solstice - I will attempt to ride my motorcycle from Land's End (the further point West) to the coast at Lowestoft (furthest point East), during the shortest night of the year - just 6hrs and 54 minutes of darkness.

In a "race against the Sun", I will embark on a journey of approx 430 miles just as the Sun sets over Land's End at 9.36pm, making my way through Newquay, Exeter, Andover, around the M25 and up through Colchester, Ipswich and finally heading into Lowestoft before the Sun rises again at just 4.30am

This is a ride which will emulate the journey taken by TV's Top Gear in 2011 - although they of course cheated by using a car! (OK, it's not technically cheating, but there's no adventure when you're sat in a comfy Jaguar!) Clarkson managed to win the race by just 5 minutes...

The length of the route and the limited time-frame mean that the challenge will indeed be a tough one. This is not a racetrack and I have no special powers to drive outside of the law, so there's no speeding allowed. I just have to keep fingers and toes crossed that there are no major hold-ups, road-works, spillages or road-closures that might impact on my charity ride.

So, what am I raising money for?

Well, as a keen motorcyclist, I'm one of many who give my time freely to help a special Charity called Nottinghamshire Blood Bikes. This group of dedicated and passionate people offer free, emergency transportation services to the NHS, delivering urgently needed blood stocks, platelets, medical samples and even patient notes - anything in fact which can fit onto our specialist, liveried motorcycles and which can aid patient care.

We do this voluntarily and neither receive, nor ask for, any money from the hospitals we help. We want to save THEM money so that it can be diverted to front-line patient care.

We also deliver frozen, human breast milk. I know that this service has received very little press attention and most people don't even realise that the service exists but, for premature babies who are unable to receive their own mother's milk after birth, this alternative feed can be a real life-saver. Maternity wards will tell you just how important the supply of this vital feed can be in reducing mortality rates, quickly improving recovery and, in the process, freeing another bed in double-quick time. Once again, this saves crucial funds for a hospital.

Our bikers currently have to make a round trip from Nottingham to Chester to collect these supplies - that's a round trip of roughly 190 miles - but it's worth every last penny of that petrol money!

Take a look at this video, produced by communications giant O2, showing the work of blood bikes collecting milk... https://youtu.be/5RRBXf-gf6A

We operate through the night from 7pm to 6am Monday to Friday, then we cover the whole weekend and every bank holiday - including Xmas Day! We don't receive any money from Governmental departments for this work, we survive purely via the generosity of the British public, collecting funds at events throughout the region, like supermarket days, biker festivals, retail parks and summer fairs - you name it and we've probably been there, bucket in hand.

That's why I am doing this charity ride - to raise life-saving funds for the "Unseen Emergency Service" of Nottinghamshire Blood Bikes and to help raise awareness of the fantastic work of the volunteers who give the spare time, week in, week out, rain or shine!

I would be so very grateful if you could spare a few pounds to help me achieve the target and you can rest assured that every penny donated will directly benefit patients - including those babies who rely on us to help them get stronger and fitter.

Thank you for taking the time to read about this cause - it's very much appreciated.

Steve Hughes.