Last Monday we completed our 6000th delivery since the charity was set up in 2010.
Every delivery was free to the NHS and completed by volunteers.
Congratulations to controller Mick T for being at the helm for this delivery and responder Les H for performing it.
Thank you to the Ipswich Trefoil Guild for their kind donation of £40.
Last night SERVSC members Paul S and Maria C gave a presentation to the Ipswich Trefoil Guild about the work that we do and the donation was given to us after the presentation.
Thank you to everyone who came to see us at Peterborough City Centre on Saturday.
Your generous donations came to a grand total of £412.07!
Thanks also to Miss Peterborough for speaking to our team and posing on one of our bloodbikes.
We’re in the final and we need your help again.
A massive thank you to everyone who voted for us in the last round of voting of Cash for the Community.
We are now one of 15 finalists in the running to win a share of a £12,000 donation.
Paper tokens will be available to collect in every issue of the Cambridge News from Tuesday 24th July – Friday 10th August. These tokens can be handed in to the Cambridge Building Society and the more tokens we get, the bigger share of the £12,000 donation we will receive.
Please vote for us to help us win. This money will help us replace one of our older liveried bloodbikes.
More information about how to vote will be provided nearer the time.
Thank you to everyone who came to see us and to those who donated at the Stow cum Quy Steam Rally last weekend.
Your donations came to a grand total of £196.26
Thank you to everyone who came to see us and donated at Lowestoft Classic Car Club Rally on 15th July.
A special thank you to the Lowestoft Classic Car Club for the donation of £50
All of your kind donations came to a grand total of £174.94!
Thank you to the Holme WI for their continued support and generous donation of £50.
One of our members, John G gave a talk on 5th July on his USA Coast-to-Coast motorcycle trip and received the donation afterwards. It was an engaging and cheerful group of over 20 members who made it a very enjoyable evening.
A huge thank you to the very generous customers of Tesco Bury St Edmunds who donated a grand total of £444.50 to us on Saturday during our store fundraiser.
Your very kind donations will help us keep delivering the blood products and donor milk to hospitals throughout Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
One of our newest members Graham P learnt about us using mini motos at our fundraising events and this set him thinking as he knew the whereabouts of a friends redundant bike.
The next day the bike was delivered to Ipswich and then onto Steve C to do his magic in turning it into a blood bike.
On behalf of SERVSC a huge thank you to Graham P and the bike donors Steve & Dawn. It is very much appreciated!
3 months to go until the Copdock Motorcycle Show.
Put this one in your diary, this year is looking to be as great as ever.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Please vote for us in the Tesco Bags of Help scheme and help us win a grant of up to £4000!
To vote, you will need to make a purchase within store of any value. You will receive one token per transaction and it’s not necessary to purchase a carrier bag in order to receive a token.
Don’t forget to ask for a token if the cashier forgets to give you one as every token counts!
We need your help in the following stores:
– IPSWICH, COPDOCK IP8 3TS Extra Store
– IPSWICH DUKE ST IP3 0BF Express Store
– IPSWICH FOXHALL IP3 8LH Express Store
– IPSWICH NACTON RD IP3 9NA Express Store
– IPSWICH NORWICH RD IP1 4BP Express Store
– IPSWICH ST MATTHEWS ST IP1 3EW Express Store
– MANNINGTREE COLCHESTER CO11 1AJ Express Store
– WESTBOURNE IPSWCH IP1 5BD Express Store
Paul Skinner from SERVSC and Keith Weller from Essex Bloodrunners held a joint talk to The Essex & Suffolk Borders Region Jaguar Enthusiast Club on 2nd July.
We were made very welcome and around 40 club members enjoyed listening to ‘what we do’. We received a very kind donation of £100 from the clubs Chairman, Geoff Short and from the clubs members a very generous donation of £174. Both of these donations have been shared between the two charities.
Many thanks to the Jaguar Club and members for kind their support.
Thank you to everyone who came to see us at the Castle Hill School fete.
Your generous donations came to a grand total of £152.76!
We hope you’re enjoying your teddies from the Teddy tombola.
A massive thank you to everyone who spoke with us at Wisbech Armed Forces day on 24th June. Your kind donations came to a grand total of £180.07.
As Veterans, two of our members were even invited to take the Marchpast Salute during the parade!
A huge thank you to everyone who came to see us at the Needham Market Raft Race on 24th June and donated a total of £225.28!
Thank you also to Cllr Dawn Spurling, Town Mayor of Needham Market for chatting to us and posing for a photo with one of our bloodbikes.
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Do you have time on your hands, mainly at weekends and would like to join our highly valued volunteer fundraisers?
We have opportunities for volunteers to help in the Cambridge and Peterborough areas with event logistics and supporting events on behalf of SERVSC.
If you would like to see the varied events we attend, please go to our website at https://servsc.org.uk/events/
If you have time to spare and would like to find out more about volunteering for SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire as a fundraiser, please contact us via our website at https://servsc.org.uk/contact/ or
We look forward to hearing from you!
On 17th June SERV volunteer Simon Browne completed the 2nd of 3 cycling challenges he is taking part in to raise money for SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
For this challenge Simon cycled from London to Brighton AND BACK! Here is how Simon got on:
“I was promised sunshine and 21 degrees on the morning for the cycle ride to Brighton and I got cloudy, cold and rain! With 15,000 cyclists raising money for the British Heart Foundation and numerous personal other good causes we set off for a relaxed and fun ride to the coast…Well, at least until Ditchling Beacon just outside Brighton which is a sizeable hill to test the mettle! Once conquered it was a nice 7 mile run into the seaside town and the finish line. Just time to collect the medal and a turnaround to start the journey back. Total miles for the day was 110 so a good stretch of the legs. Prudential 100 to follow on 29th July around London and Surrey.”
Anyone kind enough to consider a donation to SERVSC and show their support for Simon, please go to:
BTmyDonate/fundraisers/simonbrowne1
SERVSC are now in a position to collect any old mobile phones or Sat Navs.
They don’t even need to be in a working condition!
If you have any mobile phones or Sat Navs to donate to our cause they can be donated to our volunteers at any of the events we attend. Alternatively, use the ‘Contact Us’ function on our website (www.servsc.org.uk/contact) and one of our team will be in touch to detail how you can donate your device.
**All phones will be reset to factory settings and the memory cache cleared upon donation.**
SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire attended the Great Glemham Charities Fete on 16 June 2018 where we raised £59.51
Thank you to all those who attended the event and came to speak to us!
Thank you to Fircroft Laundry & Dry Cleaners and their clients for their generous donation of £63.76!
We’re very grateful for your support!
A huge thank you to Maureen and everyone at the RAF Association in Stowmarket for their donation of £60.15.
We were invited to present on the work we do at SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire on 6th June and we received this very kind donation as a result.
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Our final volunteer feature for Volunteers Week 2018 is on one of our controllers, Caroline Stanger. Here are a few words from Caroline on why she volunteers for SERV.
“I’ve been a volunteer controller for SERV for about 18 months. I heard about the organisation from a friend and was fascinated – I’ve had an emergency blood transfusion myself but never thought about how the blood made its way to the hospital! I work mainly from home and the controller’s role fits in really well – all I need is a mobile phone and a computer. Since joining I have really enjoyed being a controller – even the late night calls! – although I must admit to worrying until I know everyone is safely home after a run! As well as providing an essential service SERV is a great community – everyone looks out for everybody else!”
Our sixth Volunteers Week feature is on another of our new responders, Matthew Watkins. Here are a few words from Matthew on why he volunteers for SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire:
“I am a new SERV member and have enjoyed every minute of it so far. I have been in to bikes all my life so this seemed a good way to give back to a service that I am aware is used by bikers. I have been a blood doner for a number of years and have a lot of family and friends who work at West Suffolk Hospital so again I am often reminded how important blood and other blood products are. I feels good to give back and I can’t wait to get involved at the shows to promote the good work that SERV undertake.”
Our next Volunteers Week feature is on one of our responders, Logan Crawford. Here are a few words from Logan on why he volunteers for SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire:
“I have been a member of SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire since 2012 and would not let a little thing like a lack of motorised transport get in the way of a blood run. Like many I have benefited from the exemplary standards of care provided by the NHS, not least rather a large amount of the main product we carry! It’s great to feel that in however a small way I can give something back.”
Robert Day, one of our new responders, is our fourth Volunteers Week feature. Here are a few words from Robert to explain why he volunteers for SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire:
“SERV is an organisation that I have always been interested in since its inception locally. Whilst working and heavily involved for 25 years with an Advanced Motorcycling Organisation in a training capacity, I was unable to meet the commitment needed.
Since retirement from work I have also retired from motorcycle training and subsequently become a volunteer in my local community with various projects within that community.
With the ability to now commit to becoming a SERV blood runner I applied and after a period of waiting due to over subscription in my area I have now been trained and am active.
Further to wanting to volunteer and in the meantime my youngest grandson at 3 years old contracted Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and underwent weeks of treatment at the wonderful Addenbrookes hospital from where I now collect blood products to transport to other hospitals in the region via the SERV team.”
Our third feature of Volunteer Week is Vici Hadfield, one of our controllers. Here are a few words for Vici on why she volunteers for SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire:
“I heard about SERV through a friend who is a volunteer. I had no idea what they did so I had a look in to it and I quickly learned of the amazing work they do. I have many friends and family who have needed various blood products over the years and wanted to be involved. I am now a volunteer controller which is perfect for me, as I can take calls from home while my daughter is in bed. I’m so glad I got involved as I have met some amazing people and really feel like I’m making a difference.”
Our next Volunteer Week feature is on one of our responders, Paul Firman. Here are a few words from Paul on why he volunteers for SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire:
“I am in my third year of being a blood biker and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. Why did I become a voluntary blood biker in the first place? Well I retired from work and being a passionate biker I wanted to do something to help others. My wife used to work in the NHS and I was well aware of how stretched financially they are. Voluntary blood biking clearly fitted the bill. Not only does it save NHS money but we deliver items that make a real difference for someone, someone we will never know but that is not important, the important part is that I have made a difference.
There are many times when I know the item I am transporting has been needed quickly but one that sticks in my mind is when I delivered platelets to a hospital late one night and the pathology lab rep explained they were destined for a 21 year old suffering from bone cancer. That made me so proud to be part of an organisation that can make such a difference. The picture is of me at Peterborough City Hospital at 11:30pm after just delivering some platelets. I finally got home at 00:30am after that run, tired but elated I had helped.
We run many events to raise the much needed funds to keep our organisation running and I get involved in as many as I can as. We would not exist without the kind donations from the public and businesses.”
Today marks the start of Volunteers Week, which takes place until 7th June. SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire would like to thank all of our volunteers for their amazing dedication and fantastic work they do for us 365 days a year.
From 1st – 7th June we will be posting features on some of our members. For today’s feature meet one of our new volunteer responders, Stephen Wright. Here are a few words from Stephen on why he volunteers for SERVSC:
I joined SERV so I could feel like I was putting something back to the NHS. I Lost my mum last year and although we raised (and still are) nearly £1000 for the McMillan nurses at WSH, I felt I wanted to do a bit more. I saw a feature on Facebook some time ago and then decided to apply and see if I could join. Eventually I did and I’m glad I did as it makes me feel like I’m making a difference.
A big thank you once again to the staff at TSB Ramsey for their continued support to raise funds for us. TSB Ramsey chose us as their supported charity for 2017-2018.
On 15 May 2018 we were presented with a cheque for £470.68, bringing the total raised by TSB Ramsey to £669.48.
Further details on TSB community partnerships can be found at www.tsb.co.uk/community-partnerships
It was a scorcher of a day when we visited ASDA in Rivergate Peterborough once again. Hence the display of legs from our dedicated fundraising team who collected from the customers taking full advantage of the barbecue weather coming to buy the sausages, burgers and beers!
The Triangle Motorcycle Charity Run in aid of SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire were joined by some of our own volunteers and the liveried bikes. The sun shone and it was a fabulous day. Thank you to everyone who supported. 
One of our volunteers Simon Browne has decided to swap two wheels and an engine with two wheels and his legs to raise funds for SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire over the summer.
We will keep you updated as Simon takes on these incredible challenges on our behalf.
Please click on the link below to make a donation and then share!
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/simonbrowne1
Many thanks Simon and from all of us here at SERVSC – good luck, we will be supporting you all the way!
Many thanks to the members of Holywell cum Needingworth WI who invited us along to tell them all about what we do as Bloodrunners. They were a fantastic audience and fabulous hosts. It was lovely to meet you all!
SERVSC volunteers Paul and Maria had a fabulous time with the ladies of the Woodbridge WI telling them all about what we do. They were made to feel so welcome and thank you for the very generous donations totalling £215.00. It was lovely to meet you all.
Huge thanks to the volunteers who supported our stand at the Framlingham Country Show. Despite a last minute change to the venue the weekend went well, there were plenty of people about and the ‘varied’ weather did not spoil things!
Thank you too for those who donated to our collection raising an amazing amount of £471.60. Your support is really appreciated.
It is with great sadness that we were advised of the passing of one our SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire’s founding volunteers, Barry Humm. Although Barry was no longer a member he was remembered with great fondness for not only being a integral volunteer, he organised various events including a volunteer skid pan experience! As a retired police biker he also lead the funeral procession for Peter Mittell.
SERVSC volunteers proudly lead his funeral procession behind his police colleague on both liveried and personal bikes where the service at St Edmunds Crematorium was attended by many to pay their respects. As one of our volunteers said, ‘It was a sad day but great in that we helped to send Barry on his new journey’.
Rest in peace Barry, farewell and thank you
We were delighted to be invited to receive a very generous donation of £200.00 from Chairman Debbie Cadman on behalf of the Needham Market Raft Race committee last night.
The races are held in June and this donation is from the 2017 event (their 16th year) – where any profits made on the day are donated to local charities.
Thank you so much for your support. It really is greatly appreciated and we look forward to seeing you at this year’s event on 24th June!
Thank you so much to Martlesham Brass Band members who chose to donate an incredible £700 to SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire following their collections held during the run up to Christmas whilst playing carols for charity in around Martlesham, Woodbridge and Ipswich. Thank you to everyone who donated.
Following a talk to the staff of One Broker Insurance we were delighted to be given a very generous donation of £1000 which was presented by Robin Plaster, Managing Director of the One Broker group, in Norwich, and Rory McPhail, Director at NWBIB, the group’s Cambridge base.
Thank you so much to everyone involved in choosing to support SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
THE ROTARY CLUB’s OF SAXMUNDHAM and FRAMLINGHAM -Heritage Coast Run / Walk
The Rotary Clubs of Saxmundham and Framlingham annual Heritage Coast Marathon, Half Marathon and 6 mile Fun Run and walks still proves to be as popular as ever. The event this year on Sunday 6th May is its 36th anniversary and the three courses are set in some of the most attractive countryside that Suffolk has to offer and presenting a unique challenge to competitors with about 700 entrants over all courses.
The event not only attracts local families, friends and organisations year after year but serious runners from all over the country. This year the event is supporting two local charities with one being Riding for the Disabled at Woodbridge whose horses and ponies provide therapy, achievement and enjoyment to people with disabilities.
They offer activities such as riding and carriage driving to all age groups and wherever possible, to people with any disability.
RDA have been carrying out their life-changing activities for over 25 years relying on voluntary help and donations, or legacies, to be able to deliver their services.
The second charity is SERV (Service by Emergency Response Volunteers) Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, a voluntary organisation, and registered charity, founded in 2010. The group was set up to serve the NHS throughout the two counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. In addition to delivering urgent blood and blood product supplies to hospitals out of hours, and at weekends, in 2012 SERV launched the donor baby milk service. This involves the collection and delivery of donated human breast milk used to support premature babies in the maternity units across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. SERV also supports other groups in delivering supplies to hospitals nationwide.
Some of the money raised from the event will additionally go to support other local and International Rotary charity needs.
Organiser Owen Lower said, “We are very proud of our unique event as it provides for all categories of entrant whether they be runners, gentle joggers or walkers and it is a real family occasion. Importantly it provides a platform for many people to raise sponsorship for their own nominated charity or the charities that our two Rotary Club’s are supporting. Whether you are a regular entrant or a newcomer to the Rotary Heritage Coast Run / Walk please enter or come along to Thorpeness near Leiston on Sunday 6th May to enjoy yourselves and give us your support, so that we in turn can help very deserving charities”.
Full details of the event can be found on www.heritagecoastmarathon.org.ukor follow on Twitter and Facebook, or email
We were delighted to recently
receive a donation of £50.00 from the Tanyard Court Residents Club in Woodbridge recently. Thank you for your support.
Thank you so much to Hudson Sign Solutions Ltd for another fabulous looking trailer which they recently rewrapped for us.
After the old photos started to peel we decided to give it a facelift with new photos similar to the events trailer we use at the Suffolk events. This one will continued to be based in Cambridgeshire. Thank you once again to Chiltern Cold Storage for keeping it safe for us
Give us a wave if you spot us on the way to an event in it, it’s rather eye catching!
Thank you so much to QRC Consultants Ltd who have donated a very generous £250.00 having chosen SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire as their charity of the month for January 2018. Your support is really appreciated.
Crane Building Service & Utilities recently got to see what their incredibly generous donations have been used to purchase.
Sales Team Leader Emma first met SERVSC a couple of years ago at Ipswich YM Rugby Union Football Club. Back at work she took the opportunity to nominate us for a donation from the Crane Fu
nd for Widows & Children and she has now had the opportunity to try out the bike bought with the funds from her successful nominations. We were also joined by Crane President Richard Tuck, Marketing & Communications Manager Simon Shand-Brown and SERVSC volunteers Clive, Paul and Chairman Cindy.
The bike, a Yamaha FJR1300 will replace an aging BMW based in the Cambridgeshire area. It will be used for delivering blood, blood products, samples and donated breast milk, as well as been seen at events, talks and training events.
Huge thanks M&N Vehicle Services for generously servicing our events trailer ready for the new season. It’s off to have new wrapping next week so once again thank you to Chiltern Coldstorage Group who kindly took the old wrapping off for us. Your support, as always, is greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much, once again to Copdock Classic Motorcycle Club for their continued and very generous support. We were delighted to receive a donation of £600.00 which will go towards the upkeep of the two bikes, Shaun and Peter, donated by them previously.
Thank you so much to one of our former SERVSC volunteers Steve Brinkley and All Year Biker for completing the winter treatment on our liveried bikes BB1, BB4, BB5 and BB6 are all ready for what the weather can throw at them. Amazing job thank you.
Thank you so much to the Suffolk Community Foundation and Felixstowe Port Community Fund for granting an award of £1500.00 to SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
This donation will go towards replacing one of our older liveried motorcycles this year which will enable us to continue providing a free delivery service of blood, blood products, samples and donated breast milk to our local NHS hospitals.
Blood donations are a life-saving necessity routinely delivered to hospitals across the UK, however there are occasions when blood is needed out of hours and urgently.
To facilitate this, Papworth receives outstanding, free-of-charge support from Service by Emergency Response Volunteers Suffolk and Cambridgeshire (SERVSC) – a charity that no matter what day, time or weather, will deliver blood and other clinical items to NHS hospitals.
Papworth’s transfusion laboratory staff stablished a valuable partnership with SERVSC in February 2012.
Transfusion Practitioner Michaela Lewin said: “In the past 12 months alone our laboratory staff’s work with SERVSC has saved the Trust £14,000. Their commitment is exceptional.”
Cindy Dickerson, Chairman of SERVSC, said: “It never ceases to amaze me how generous our volunteers are and we wouldn’t be able to offer this service without their enthusiasm and loyalty.”
Since SERVSC began, they have carried out almost 5,000 delivery runs, saving the NHS an estimated £350,000. Although they currently have 100 active members, the charity is always seeking volunteers to keep their service running – please visit www.servsc.org.uk for more information.
It is with the greatest of pride that we are delighted to announce that SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire have just completed their 5000th run.
Here is one of our long serving volunteers Mick with Sarah and Emilliya from Papworth who kindly took time out of their busy day to mark the occasion.
Mick used his own Triumph Explorer to deliver a box of platelets and in a spooky coincidence, the mileage clock hit 5000 too! Here’s to the next 5000!
Thank you to all our volunteers who have helped us get to this amazing point in SERVSC history. Without your support and the time you give for free, we would never have reached it. Every run counts and helps to save lives.
A Charity Rock n Roll night in aid of SERVSC raised an incredible £1000.00 through ticket sales and a prize draw. Thank you to Sue McCarthy for organising such a great night and the Rosary Conservative Club, Ipswich for donating the venue and to all those involved, thank you for supporting us.
It is with the greatest of pride that we are delighted to announce that SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire have just completed their 5000th run.
Here is one of our long serving volunteers Mick with Sarah and Emilliya from Papworth who kindly took time out of their busy day to mark the occasion.
Mick used his own Triumph Explorer to deliver a box of platelets and in a spooky coincidence, the mileage clock hit 5000 too! Here’s to the next 5000!
Thank you to all our volunteers who have helped us get to this amazing point in SERVSC history. Without your support and the time you give for free, we would never have reached it. Every run counts and helps to save lives.
On behalf of the Chairman and Committee of SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire we would like to wish our fantastic volunteers and supporters a very Merry Christmas. We appreciate every second and every penny you have given to us and we could not do it without you all.
Colin one of our volunteer bloodrunners works at Peterborough Land Registry and SERVSC is their chosen charity for 2017. They held a Christmas Fayre and cake sale last Thursday and the final total was an incredible £400.20. Thank you for choosing to support SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, thank you to all who donated and a huge thank you to Colin for organising a show and tell stand recently
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One Broker Insurance updated us with how their Charity of the Year activities supporting SERV Norfolk and SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire have been going now that 2017 is drawing to a close. Visit www.onebroker.co.uk/news to find out what they have been up to and how they’ve been supporting the local bloodbikers in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
We would like to give a huge thank you to Aurora Spiritualist Group. Following a meeting where we gave a presentation on SERV SC we were presented with a very generous donation of £1500 in memory of June Barfoot and Enid Lupton. June and Enid had founded a healing group that also raised money for charities. In the later stages June’s husband received weekly blood transfusions and it was her wish that we should receive a donation of £1000. A further £500 was added from members of the group.
We were delighted to receive a very generous donation from the Hoxne Phoenix Group for £400.00 recently following a talk and raffle. Thank you so much for your support, it really is greatly appreciated.
It is with great sorrow to advise you that Mark Saberton, one of our longest serving members, passed away on 12th October 2017. Mark was a quietly spoken, warm hearted and kind man who always gave his time willingly and without question to our cause. Mark was also a very active member and trainer for St Johns Ambulance. We attended his funeral with many of his family, friends and St John Ambulance colleagues and it was obvious to all he will be greatly missed. Farewell Mark, and thank you.
Thank you very much to Steve Hurren who kindly donated £37.72 to SERVSC from collections made at the events he attended during 2017. Your support is greatly appreciated Steve and we love your bike, it’s missing a SERV sticker though!
Year to date stats are in as at 31st October. Delivery of Platelets are now steaming ahead as our most carried product delivered free for our NHS hospitals 365 days of the year. We have been called on over 800 times so far this year and 4785 times year to date. Thank you to all our volunteers.
Many thanks to Onebroker Insurance who recently hosted a charity golf day in aid of SERV. They were joined by one of our volunteers keen golfer Malcolm who had a great day despite not being on the winning team. Thank you for choosing to support SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and for your hospitality on the day
Thank you so much to the dedicated volunteers who helped out at Peterborough Town Hall collection and to those who donated. Despite a slightly damp start we collected a grand total of £432.36 together with an invasion of morris dancers!
We have received some wonderful news. TSB 2017 partnership charities www.tsb.co.uk/community-partnerships have chosen us as their charity of the year.
This year they received more than 27,000 nominations from customers, TSB partners and other local people in the community. We are pleased to say that SERVSC was chosen as one of their 458 new Local Charity Partners.
More info will follow soon, in the meantime, thank you to everyone who nominated us! 
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Thank you to the members of the East Anglian Practical Classic & Sports Car Club who despite having their event rained off were kind enough to invite us to do a presentation on the work of SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Following this we were delighted to receive a donation of £100. Your continued support is greatly appreciated
We would like to say a big thank you to the ladies of Great Barton Women’s Institute. They donated £519.91 to us after a visit to explain what we do. It was an incredible night and we also heard a lady’s story of how we saved her daughters life. We are going to hopefully write a piece about this soon.
Make sure you come and see us at the Copdock Classic Motorcycle Show. They are amazing supporters of SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and we wish them well for another successful show this year.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the people of Huntingdon Tesco. We raised £487.89 whilst there today. That is a huge amount for a great days work. 
We were both surprised and delighted to receive a cheque for an amazing £800.00 from the Thurston Carpet Bowls Club recently. The money was raised during a club day involving several teams, tombola’s, stalls and some very generous donations. Thank you so much for your support, it was lovely to meet you all.
Thank you so much to the members of the Woodbridge Rotary Club who invited us to attend their meeting today.
Following a lovely lunch and a talk by ourselves they presented us with an amazing donation of £563.00. This was some of the money they raised on their tombola stall at the Woodbridge Regatta earlier this year which was attended by one of our members Stephen and a trusty mini moto which proved to be very popular!
Thank you for choosing to support SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It was a pleasure to meet you all.
Thank you so much!
We were delighted to be nominated for a second time this year to receive a donation from Crane Building Services and Utilities on behalf of the Crane Fund for Widows & Children.
Charities close to the hearts of staff are chosen by the fund to support local charities based around the region. Thank you to Cranes employee Emma-Jane Strutt who nominated SERVSC. An article also appeared in the Ipswich Star. www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/ipswich-firm-raises-28-000-for-various-charities-in-region-1-5152609
For all active members we have a private group set up if you like to be kept updated on training and little group meets extra . Please take a look – www.facebook.com/groups/234450760374177/?hc_ref=ART619HzhETLuPpW-YE67OUgrLtPfqI-0_gb9OJKEW_Dn1l9bfVehmIJwQWz74xyHFg
Following our annual trip to the Meldreth Bike Show supporting yet another successful evening, we were delighted to receive an invite from the Royston & District Motorcycle Club to their Presentation Barbeque. Thank you for your very kind hospitality and for the incredible donation of £3000 which will go a long way in helping to support our operational costs.
We were delighted to receive a cheque for £200.00 from the Lowestoft Ladies Hockey Club following a recent Charity Quiz night which some of our members attended. Unfortunately our gallant team did not fair so well but it was lovely to meet you all! Thank you for choosing to support SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire!
We had a great day out at the Lowestoft Classic Car Show recently. Thank you to those who visited our stand and in particular thank you to the Car Club itelf who donated a very generous £100.00.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the President and Committee of the Hadleigh Show. Not only did they award us with 2nd prize for our stand on the day, they have now donated a further very generous £500 from their charitable funds in appreciation of the work we do.
It was lovely to meet everyone at the Pipers Vale Community Primary School Fete in Ipswich at their School Fair. Thank you for inviting us and for your very kind donations.
Huge thanks to those who visited our stand today on a very hot day at Nowton Park in Bury St Edmunds. The SERVSC volunteers were out in force and we raised an amazing £300.00 which will go towards our operational costs such as ensuring our hospitals can call us for free
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Thank you so much to members of the Rutland Chapter and Iron Horse Ranch House, Market Deeping for their kind donation of £50.00 presented to us in Peterborough.
A big thank you to the staff at TSB Ramsey chose us as their charity for 2017. They have been running a number of activities, including guess the number of Easter Eggs, to raise funds. Today they presented us with a cheque for £198.80. We had excellent representation at this event. A big thank you to all our members who turned up and a special thank you to our local (Ramsey) member, who generously picked up the bill for the tea and cakes afterwards
Picture courtesy of East Anglian Daily Times
At only four months old Kireon-Lee has already overcome more health obstacles than many people face in a lifetime. Born eight weeks premature, with a serious heart condition and weighing just 3lb, the odds were stacked heavily against him but Kireon-Lee and his family had back up.
Read about how a meeting with the East Anglian Daily Times resulted in the members of SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire who ferried donated breast milk across the country to give him the best chance of survival. met up with his parents, the hospital staff who care for him and of course, Kireon-Lee himself.
My name is Vanessa Wild and I live in Bury St Edmunds and have been a proud member and volunteer for SERV SC since May 2010. I am a RoSPA Advanced Rider and started as a blood runner, then volunteering thereafter at different events throughout Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
I enjoy volunteering as I feel it’s important to raise awareness and funds for an amazing charity. I’m a regular blood donor of 8 years and it made sense to me to help transport blood products to hospitals. It’s about making a difference and helping to save lives. I also enjoy meeting other members, volunteers and of course the public whilst giving my time freely to a truly worthwhile charity
.
I have been with SERV SC for about five years having first seen them at the Copdock bike show, it seemed the perfect way to combine my love of bikes with doing something worthwhile for the community.
After losing a baby to Group B strep in 1998 my wife required a fair amount of Blood products to recover, so I get a great deal of satisfaction delivering to the Hospital knowing that somebody really needs the contents no matter what time or how bad the weather.
My Blood running duties fit in well with my job as a Train Driver with Freightliner which involves a lot of weird shift work, it has also enabled me to meet a fantastic group of people all with the same aim. I also get to spread word of our work at charity events and shows to members of the public who never fail to amaze us with their generosity.
It was the case a few years ago that nobody knew us or what we did as most runs were carried out at night, but recently that has all changed and I will often receive acknowledgement from all sorts of people. There is nothing better than simply getting a thank you from a complete stranger.
Meet some of our SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Volunteers and find out why they do what they do.
The two Sue’s told us, “We volunteer because we both have relations who worked and are working for the NHS and understand the problems it faces. We have benefited from its amazing service, me especially and as we are retired we have some spare to enable us to give back some help it needs.”
Here is Kev Parry’s story
What do I get from my volunteering? Lots of things! I get to give something back to society which I’ve not had a chance to do before. I get a good feeling that I’m doing my small part towards something good and that I could be helping to maybe save someone’s life. I making a small difference to someone somewhere who I will probably never meet and who probably doesn’t know I even exist. I’ve got a sense of belonging.
Its given me a new circle of friends. Its given me a new interest. In a strange way I feel it’s also given me a sense of purpose? #itswhatwedo springs to my thoughts most days now!
We recently had a very busy weekend attending the Hadleigh Show, Asda in Peterborough and Tesco St Neots raising a whooping ……. ❤️❤️
?
? £1036.62 ??❤️❤️
On behalf of all of us here at SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire we would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to Frances, her team and the residents at Cedrus House in Stowmarket for their very generous donation of £100.00. Frances is also a SERVSC bloodrunner and it was a pleasure to meet you all.
Thank you to everyone who attended our AGM. Not only was the new committee voted in, Andrew Hall from Copdock Classic Motorcycle Club also joined us to officially handover the newly refurbished Suffolk events trailer which they donated the funds for. Thank you also to the Millenium Centre in Red Lodge for their continued support and hospitality
. 
We recently combined forces with our colleagues in the Midland Freewheelers and helped to deliver 2 litres of breast milk to a very needy baby at Ipswich Hospital in the Neonatal department from the Birmingham Women’s Hospital.
The total distance covered between the two NHS hospitals by our respective groups was more than 150 miles
Within a few hours, coordinators and riders had planned and sorted locations with times to enable an efficient, swift and prompt delivery.
Thank you to everyone involved.
It’s what we do!
Thank you to baby Kireon-Lee and his parents Emma and Lee for sharing your story with us. We all wish the best for his future health
Did you know….?
Last Easter weekend SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire were on call to our hospitals from 7pm Thursday night until 6 am Tuesday morning.
During those 108 hours we were tasked 13 times and delivered:-
8 boxes of blood
6 boxes of platelets
1 box of fresh frozen plasma
3 samples for testing
1 box of donated breast milk
It’s what we do!
Thank you to all those who supported our collection in Peterborough and raised an incredible £811.00
Thank you so much to Daren Hillyer, the Dealer Principle and the team at Webb’s Motorcycles in Peterborough who invited us along to be part of their new showroom opening.
We had a great weekend speaking to lots of you about what we do.
Thank you also to those of you who donated a total of £89.00 which will pay for a bloodrunner hi-viz jacket and bloodbox cover.
Look out for us this weekend coming at Sainsbury’s Oxney Road and then Bretton, Peterborough.
Our longstanding neon clad SERV members Janice Stopher and Shaun Larkins are attempting to complete (again) the St Elizabeth Hospice Midnight Walk this year. They’re aiming to raise at least £500 for the hospice which supports those living with progressive illnesses through palliative care. Providing these services each year costs over £9 million and over 75% of this comes from the local community.
They’ve decided to raise funds jointly this year and both will be walking the 6 mile route on the night.
Both Janice and Shaun are very active fundraising members for SERV and it would be great if we could support them with another cause close to their hearts. You can donate by clicking on their donation page
http://giving.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/janice_shaun2017/
We wish them both the best of luck!
Thank you very much to the President Ruth Dowie and the ladies of the Gt Horkesley WI who recently invited us to tell them all about what we do. We were made to feel very welcome and your donations totalling £80.00 are very much appreciated.
We received a call recently asking if we could pick up donated baby milk from the NCIU at Luton and Dunstable and take it to Peterborough City Hospital.
It would appear at the time of baby’s arrival, all of the premature baby facilities at PCH were in use so Mum had been taken the Luton & Dunstable. Both mum and baby were returned to the NICU at PCH by ambulance but the important milk had been left behind. Hence we were asked to help.
On arrival and having delivered the much needed milk, our Day Operations Manager, John Gibson, was invited to meet the recipient Mum and her new baby.
We were delighted to hear that mum and the nursing staff at both hospitals were very grateful and impressed with our service.
Thank you very much to the members of the Rotary Club of Ipswich who recently offered us the opportunity to share with them what we do.
We would like to thank them for their warm welcome & hospitality afforded to us and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Over the past two years we have enjoyed the support from the Needingworth Over 60s Club and they recently invited to their AGM to receive a further donation of £350.00 from the retiring Chairlady Joan Ashwell and members. This brings the total donated by them to an amazing £510.90. Our SERVSC members Antony Orchard, Michael Ferguson, John Millard and John Gibson were delighted to thank them in person and show them what their kind donations may have helped to fund. Thank 
you so much.
Thank you so much to everyone at Demand Engineering in Stonham Aspal who very kindly have donated £100.00 to SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire. For every Demand Engineering t-shirt sold in 2016, they donated £1. It costs £105 to supply our riders and drivers with the necessary equipment. Your donation and 
support is very much appreciated.
Congratulations to our New Year’s Eve Raffle winner Elaine who won a flight in a Piper Arrow with our very own Malcolm, one of dedicated SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire bloodrunners. He recently flew Elaine and her family around the Norfolk and Suffolk Coast on a beautiful spring like day.
Elaine told us “The boys and I had a great time it was such an amazing prize and experience thank you so much. The boys are looking forward to telling their friends at school – they think they’ll be able to upstage all of them when it comes to ‘what did you do in half term?
Thank you Malcolm for your very generous donation and for the time you give to the winners.
Our Annual General Meeting for all members will be held at The Red Lodge Millennium Centre, Lavender Close, Red Lodge, Suffolk IP28 8TT on Saturday 13th May 2017 commencing at 2:00pm
A buffet lunch will be provided for all members who wish to join us prior to the meeting from 12:30pm. As in previous years, this is an opportunity for you to meet the current committee and other members, look at the charity assets on display and ask any questions you may have prior to the AGM.
Further details can be found in the members area under Communications
.
We recently met the lovely ladies of the Woodbridge Trefoil Guild who asked us to do a talk on Serv Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. We gatecrashed their whole meeting as their hospitality was so good. We would also like to thank you for your very kind donation of £40.00.
Thank you so much to the The Huntingdon Charitable Trust who invited us to attend a cheque presentation evening recently. We were delighted to receive a donation from them for £500.00. Thank you very much for your kind hospitality on the evening and your continued support.
We are very proud to announce that SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire have reached a milestone. Our volunteers have now completed over 4000 runs since the charity began in 2010. Thank you to all of them for continuing to give up their time.
Thank you so much to the Crane Fund for Widows and Children who have kindly donated a very generous US$6360.00. Thank you too to Emma Strutt for nominating us through her employers. We were made very welcome at a hospitable cheque presentation with Emma, Crane Director’s and staff present. It was a pleasure to meet you all and again thank you.
Thank you so much to the Yorkshire Building Society who nominated SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to benefit from a £2000.00 donation.
Thank you so much to the SERV Members and their families who supported a collection day at Tesco, Martlesham on Bank Holiday Sunday. Huge thank you to the Tesco staff and their customers who helped us to collect an incredible amount of £757.28.
Trained nurse John Millard served his country in the Royal Air Force and then the NHS front-line services. Even when the time came to retire, he opted for a life in the fast lane as a volunteer blood runner.
Blood runners courier blood products, biopsy tissue and other medical samples from one hospital without a laboratory to hospitals where the samples can be tested. Samples can only be tested within 24 hours. The bikes are ‘urgent’ so don’t carry blue flashing lights, but pick up samples multiple times a day. Sometimes response time is what can ultimately save a life.
Using his trusty Honda VFR1200, John delivers blood, the main staple for these unsung heroes. SERV blood runners, who cover many regions across the UK, as well as Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, also shuttle donor breast milk for premature babies, vaccines and medical notes.
You can view the video by Honda featuring John by clicking here
Today is National #BloodBikesDay where we celebrate all that is wonderful about what our #Volunteers do.
Thank you to all our amazing Suffolk and Cambridgeshire volunteers.
If you would like to find out more about being a volunteer Bloodrunner or controller, go to our website servsc.org.uk.
You can also make a donation.
Thank you to the generous members of Kesgrave Bowls Club for again supporting SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire at their annual Open Charity day.
35 players took part in an all day competition with the proceeds going to 3 charities of which we were one of and subsequently we have been presented with a cheque for £223.00. Thank you to everyone for your continued to support. It really is appreciated
Thanks to the designer Matt Denton, Signs Express Ipswich and Trucks R Us!
At our recent AGM we were delighted to receive a cheque for £1000 from Freightliner who our member, Steve (Night Knight) Cook aka Cookie works for. Thanks to Steve for approaching Freightliner to make a donation and thank you to them for choosing to support us. This money will go towards making a real difference to our operations – providing a free out of hour’s delivery service for clinically urgent blood, blood products and human baby milk
Thank you so much to all those who braved the cold, the wind and rain to support our stands at over the weekend. Very un-Christmassy weather. Even the false snow gave up!! ?
We ran a very popular teddy tombola in the marquee and this, together with collections outside with the bikes raised an amazing £426.17.
Thank you to all the staff at Stonham Barns for making us so welcome and of course, many thanks to all their visitors who visited our stands.
Mike Amos and Paul Skinner were made to feel very welcome last night at the 
where they were invited to do a talk about what SERV do.
Following this they were presented with a cheque for £250.00 plus a further £20 from an individual attending the evening. This money will go towards making a real difference to our operations – providing a free out of hour’s delivery service for clinically urgent blood, blood products and human baby milk to our NHS hospitals in Suffolk & Cambridgeshire.
Thank you all so very much
The Man in the Moon in Ipswich have raised an incredible £1400 for SERVSC following a charity band night on Saturday. With over 200 attending we would like to thank all those who supported the evening with our special thanks going to Jamie & Sue, the band All or Nothing who had the crowd rocking and who will definitely go on to bigger stadium tours. Last but not least, the lovely doormen who excelled at handing out fines for anyone going in or out!! What a great night spent with great people. Thank you all.
Following on from the success of ASDA’s Green token scheme at Bury St Edmunds (cheque for £200 was presented to us on the 12 October by Michelle from ASDA) we had arranged for a store collection at ASDA Bury St Edmunds on the 17 October. We set up at 9am and before everything was in place we had children sitting on the bikes and the rest of the day continued to be busy. Late in the morning we had a call to meet a west driver who had 3 boxes of blood/platelets for Ipswich Ho…spital, I asked for the west driver to meet us at the ASDA store and the boxes were delivered on to Ipswich Hospital in the Blood car. The people of Bury St Edmunds were very generous and we raised £528.71, but also as important we had a number of enquiries to join SERV, one of whom had emailed our Membership Officer while we were still at the store!! Well done and many thanks to all involved.
Thank you all for a great turn out on Sunday, the stand looked amazing and the help you gave to the Copdock Classic Motorcycle Club in selling the raffle tickets was very much appreciated.
Fab time time in Southwold this weekend. Thank you to everyone who supported the event. Teddy tombola, debut of MM5 (mini moto 5), name the Minion Bloodbiker, (it was Walter) and a visit from the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
It’s been a Serv filled weekend here in not so sunny Suffolk
Thank you to all those members who supported us this weekend. Bury market raised £318.09 and a surprising lack of rain given the forecast whilst BB4 took part in the Felixstowe Carnival Parade. Unfortunately, despite a promising calm start to Sunday and the opportunity to have some fun by the seaside, the weather took a dramatic, if expected turn for the worse. By midday we were washed/blown away along with the funfair and Felixstowe Airshow. Even the army were packing up and heading for safety! Never mind. There’s always sunny Southwold next Saturday. Come see us at St Felix School Southwold on 1st August. It’s also the East Anglian Air Ambulance Open Day!!
One of our long standing SERVSC members Brian Hill will be doing the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 on August 2nd 2015 raising money for Great Ormond Street. 100 miles, cycling from London to Surrey. He has been training really hard and has nearly hit his Just Giving target. Here’s his message:-
My daughter, and Daniels twin sister, Megan, was born with many problems and spent all of her 8 months in hospital. Most of that time was at GOSH where she received fantastic and loving care. Please help me to raise some money to help them continue their tremendous work.
Please use the link below to support Brian for this great cause.
http://www.justgiving.com/BrianJHill
First, a big thank you to today’s team for turning out early on a Sunday morning to face a chilly wind in the middle of an airfield for the Hunts 10K Run. The nice part was to see 2 new faces. Our members formed the run escort team which, with our livered vehicle and blue lights, proved quite a spectacle. We enjoyed a lot kudos from the organisers, runners and spectators. Courtesy of the event sponsor, the team are now enjoying “Cook Italian” pasta!
The highlight was five Year 8 students from Cromwell College, Chatteris who set up and ran their own charity stall, offering games, cup cakes and cookies on behalf of SERV SC. They presented us with £41 and there may be some more to come from their run sponsorship. It was touching experience to witness
the enthusiasm and initiative of these young people who went out of their way to do something for society and SERV SC in particular.
We are very grateful to Persimmon Homes to select us for an award of £1000 from their Community Champions Scheme. Thank you so much.
http://www.persimmonhomes.com/charity
Again we are indebted to the small team of regulars who turned up on a wet dismal Sat to man our stand at ASDA Peterborough. Despite the inclement weather we remained dry and had a very successful day with lots of interest from the public who donated £363.20 (2014 – £307) in our buckets and ASDA presented us with a cheque for £200 giving us a total of £563.20. We had lots of interest from potential new members – at least one strong interest to be a controller.
A big thank you to all who gave up their valuable time to help, it was well worth it.
Following his recent refurbishment and repairs, Robbie (mini-moto) look fantastic with his new flashing blue lights that were irresistible to passing kids and adults alike – many thanks to our Routes Trainer for all his hard work.
We were recently presented with a cheque for £500 from AXA in Ipswich. Shaun Larkins, one of our volunteer members from Ipswich works for AXA and has been busy with various fundraising initiatives and jumped at the chance when he was asked to nominate a charity for money to be donated to.
Many thanks to both AXA and Shaun!
Many thanks to the ladies and gentleman of Kesgrave Bowls Club for their very generous donation recently of £182. Thank you for your continued support
In keeping with previous years, we had a warm and generous welcome from the shoppers in Huntingdon for our recruiting and fundraising event yesterday. The sun shone and were inundated with proud parents photographing their little darlings on board the mini-motos and BBikes. We had great support from our members and Sainsbury’s came up trumps by supplying us with free drinks all day and a free lunch as well. We had enquires from potential new members and we raised £445.84
I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all of you who assisted last week at the 42nd Cambridge Beer Fest.
It was truly a remarkable event, which saw close to 40,000 visitors over the six days of the festival. For us it was truly amazing! In terms of raising our profile to the general public, potential for corporate sponsorship, and the very many important membership enquiries we received I can say the event was an unbelievable success. The icing on the cake was that we raised an incredible £12,777.96!!!! Which I understand is a record for this event!
Please look out on our website and social media sites as over the next few days I will be posting some fantastic images to remind us of this wonderful event.
A massive thank you, to not only our amazing member who assisted in many ways, but also our volunteers from the Lions Clubs, Royal British Legion, friends and family. We really could not have pulled this off without you all, we are truly grateful.
We do not normally name individuals for a special mention as all our volunteers and members are equally important. However in this case I think an exception should be made, without the herculean effort from our Membership Secretary Cindy Dickerson this event just would not have happened.
In addition we are eternally grateful to Bert & Claire Kenward, Ron Buchet and all the committee and team at Cambridge CAMRA for inviting us, making us feel so welcome, and making the festival such a huge success – thank you all so much, I do hope we can come along again at some time in the future.
Do you have any good condition cuddily toys suitable for tombola prizes hiding away in lofts, under beds or gathering dust cupboards? We would love to have them to give them new homes and raise money for SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire at the same time! Please contact us on www,servsc.org.uk. We will collect!!
Recently a two day event held in the beautiful grounds of Framlingham College. We had good location next to the main entrance but the Saturday proved a little stressful when our parade in the main arena was greeted with a sudden downpour so we had to abandon ship, only two people watched our parade, sitting on a straw bale, under umbrellas!
Thanks to the grand efforts of Martin and Sarah Bignall for supplying a Teddy Bear Tombola, which, as always, was a great success, and, through the collecting tins manned by our loyal members, we made £202. Come Sunday, the weather was much better and despite having running low on tombola prizes we collected another £177 from a very busy show.
A big thank you again to all members who supported both events.
It was a cold day there was a great BBQ and live music to keep us going.
The Fenlanders Harley Owners Group ended a ride out at the dealership and presented us with a very generous cheque of £154. Huge thanks to everyone involved for their efforts in raising that cash. Together with the donation and the collection on the day we raised £233
Framlingham Country Fair
A two day event held in the beautiful grounds of Framlingham College. We had good location next to the main entrance but the Saturday proved a little stressful when our parade in the main arena was greeted with a sudden downpour so we had to abandon ship, only two people watched our parade, sitting on a straw bale, under umbrellas!
Thanks to the grand efforts of our members for supplying a Teddy Bear Tombola, which, as always, was a great success, and, through the collecting tins manned by our loyal members, we made £202. Come Sunday, the weather was much better and despite having running low on tombola prizes we collected another £177 from a very busy show.
A big thank you again to all members who supported both events.
The Cambridge & District Branch of CAMRA’s Beer Festival has selected SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire to be the supported charity at The 42nd Cambridge Beer Festival, 18 to 23 May 2015, Jesus Green, Cambridge.
The festival is the United Kingdom’s longest running CAMRA beer festival and currently the second largest regional beer festival. The festival features a wide range of local and national beers of all styles, as well as cider, perry, mead, wine and bottled & draught beers from around the world. The festival is also famous for its CAMRA Cheese Counter, where a very wide range of fine cheeses, together with locally produced bread, pork pies, ham and other savoury items are available.
How can you help?
“The Bloodrunners” will be staffing a stand throughout the six day beer festival and if you can spare some time, then please contact Ronnie Lyons (e-mail ), as he is project managing this key event in our calendar.
Lowestoft resident Kelly Head has made a very generous £500 donation to SERV S&C raised from her ‘Auction for charity in Lowestoft’ activity on Facebook.
The story behind this donation is truly inspirational. Having originated in 2012 as a means to raise £100 for ‘Children in Need’, Kelly started by auctioning a few items of her own at low starting prices and with an end time and date. Her initial target of £100 was achieved in a very short time by contacting friends and as the activity snowballed, eventually went on to raise £1,650 that year.
Much to her amazement, when many of the auction winners turned up to collect the sale items, they often brought bags of items to donate for future auctions, thus perpetuating the sales cycle.
Kelly was overwhelmed with the generosity of the local people in and around Lowestoft and following requests from them to continue the activity, in 2013 she broadened the remit and went on to donate nearly £5,000 to several local charities.
As a way to say thanks to the group members, that now number more than 1,200 people, Kelly invites them to nominate local charities and then to vote for a winner and all the proceeds raised over a certain time go to that charity. With this latest donation to SERV S&C the total raised will pass the £10,000 mark!
SERV S&C is truly honoured and pleased to accept this donation and many thanks to Kelly and her supporting cast for their generosity.
Would like to thank the President and members of Whittlesey and March Lions Club for their very generous donation of £250 which they presented to us last week. We are very grateful for this donation, thank you all for your support!
After a popular presentation on SERV SC to St Ives British Legion (Women’s Section) last Sep, our adventuring Bloodrunner was invited back to give a talk on his USA Coast-to-Coast trip on a Harley. The group of 30 members thoroughly enjoyed his talk and presented a cheque of £40 for SERV SC. For this we are very grateful – thank you very much!
Following a Coast-to-Coast trip across the USA on a Harley last autumn, an intrepid SERV Suffolk & Cambs member was invited to the Soham Over Sixties Club to give a talk about his adventure. Over 50 members were entertained and enlightened by our member’s experiences. They thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon and presented our member with a donation of £30 for SERV SC. For this we are very grateful – thank you very much!
They have asked him to come back and tell them more about his exploits – Sailing around Britain!
At 0730am yesterday, on Christmas morning we received a call from Ipswich Neonatal Unit asking for some baby milk from the RMH Milk Bank in Cambridge to feed a new baby in need, in their care.
Within 30 minutes 2 volunteers were despatched to relay the milk from Cambridge to Ipswich, arriving at 0930.
What a great thing to be able to do, this is why we do it.
Just a quick note to thank all our members who supported us at Asda Peterborough on Sunday. Despite the chilly weather we were well looked after by Asda staff with coffee and rolls and the public donated a very impressive and festive £611.74!
What a fine way to end the year….
Thank you all for all your efforts this year and we wish everybody a very merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous and peaceful new year!!
Just a reminder that we will be making our last appearance of 2014 at Asda Rivergate Peterborough tomorrow from 10am. What a 2014 it has been!! Our total run count is now in the region of 2,400, with approximately 100 dedicated, selfless Volunteers out in all weathers making potentially life saving deliveries every week. We are immensely grateful not only for the support of our Volunteers, but also the members of the Public, Fraternal groups, and businesses who donate to us, and support us, without which this wonderful service would not be possible. Thank you all, we salute you! SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire would like to wish all our Volunteers, sister Blood Bike groups nationwide, Donors & Supporters a very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy Peaceful and Safe New year. P.S. Don’t forget to come ad visit us on Sunday!
Many thanks to the SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire members; staff and customers who supported us today in Barclays Bank, Princes St, Ipswich.
After an amusing and creative half hour getting 2 Bloodbikes into the banking hall via steps, windows and doors, we had a great day meeting Father Christmas and offering him an alternative mode of transport to his traditional sleigh!
We raised £175.96. Many thanks to all!!
Big thank you to the staff and customers of Asda, Stoke Park, Ipswich who we met on Saturday 29th November. We collected a generous £249.82p. Thank you also to the SERV members who supported the day.
Special thanks also to SERV members Shaun and Janet whose chickens have again been busy raising money for us from their egg laying this year. Thank you to hens Mabel, Ginger, Red, Goldilocks, Brenda, Perky and not forgetting Stumpy for £30.02!
Lastly, big thank you to the staff and customers of More Moto in Bury for collecting on our behalf £46.
Many thanks to The Copdock Motorcycle Club has given us another fantastic donation. We were invited to a presentation at which we were presented with a cheque for £1,000. We were asked if the monies could be for the upkeep/renewal of our Bloodbike which is dedicated to Shaun Ruddy and who sadly died in an accident. Hannah, Shaun’s Fiancé before he died, and Steph, his Mother, were at the presentation. We helped Hannah and friends who sold the clubs raffle tickets throughout the year at events that the CCMC attended. We would like to thank everyone from the CCMC who have helped us once again and with special thanks to Hannah and Steph.
On Saturday, we had a fanstastic day at Bury St Edmunds market with a good SERV membership turnout raising £470.12. Thank you to all who attended and to the generous people of Bury St Edmunds
Today we have listed on ebay a fantastic GearLocker Donated by Voller & Dunnett and Copdock Classic Motorcycle Club. This item has been autographed by Henry Cole. You can find this fantastic item on the link below…
Serv Suffolk & Cambridgeshire were again proud to attend and support one of the biggest motorcycle shows in the UK to show off the new bike the Copdock Classic Motorcycle Club donated to us from last years draw proceeds.
Henry Cole from ITV4’s the Motorbike Show was this year’s guest of honour and was very interested to hear about what we did when he visited our stand
Funds raised from the day were £199.76 and lots of people interested in joining us
It was a great Serv turnout. Thank you to all those members who joined us on the stand to help.
Just another big thank you to all our BloodRunners who turned out on Saturday at Sainsbury’s Bretton Peterborough, where a quite splendid £789.81 was collected. We are very grateful to all our guys, and the fantastic job that you do. We wold also like to thank the Staff and very generous customers at Sainsbury’s for your incredible generosity- thank you all so much..
We would like to extend our grateful thanks to the organisers of the Huntington 10K run who presented us with a donation of £100! It was a big surprise when we were called forward to receive a cheque as we were not a nominated charity. We also had the opportunity to say a few words about SERV SC and what we do – the audience were impressed not only with our work but that we do it all for free and members run their own vehicles and pay their own fuel. So once again thank you all so very much and we look forward to supporting your event again next year.
Have been looking back over the very busy summer we have enjoyed, and would love to share these brilliant pics with you all of when we recently attended the St. Ives Carnival. We are very grateful once again to the organising committee for inviting us and we look forward to seeing you all again next year…
Thank you to all those Servsc members, customers and visitors who supported the fundraising events we attended this weekend at Tesco, Copdock in Ipswich and Stonham Barns. With their help, a tombola and lucky dip we raised £564.11.
SERV Suffolk & Cambs would like to extend our thanks to TESCO BarHill, to their incredibly generous customers and of course to our BloodRunners who supported us on the day. We raised a truly magnificent £1,049.56 – WOW!! This will go a long way to supporting our charity this year and helping us to help the NHS.
Just a quick round up of our recent events and collections, we attended Sainsbury’s Store in Huntingdon and received donations totalling £401.31, this weekend we were at Tesco St Neots where £432.52 was donated and we also collected £36.11 at the recent EAAA event in Peterborough. We are immensely grateful for the support of the stores and organisations, and of course the members of the public who always dig very deep for us, but especially to our members who we ask much of who keep turning out to support us with our fundraising efforts – guys we salute you!
Four members attended the Royston District Motor Cycle Club cheque presentation evening recently night at Meldreth. RDMCC chairman stated that their Meldreth bike show was growing in popularity and this year’s had been one of its most successful, raising £12000. He expressed his, and the clubs, appreciation to SERV for help with the running of the show. I was asked to convey a big thank you to all who turned up and helped at this year’s show, and we are very greatful to RDMCC for their ongoing support and amazing generosity – thank you all so much
Our Chairman, Bob, was presented with a cheque for £1000.
Other beneficiaries were Meldreth Manor School £6000, Air Ambulance £4000 and SERV Herts & Beds £1000.
We recently had another day out in support of EAAA this time in Southwold. The Air Ambulance was in attendance and fine day was had by all. Many thanks to EAAA for their support and to our Bloodrunners for giving up their time to attend – thanks guys!
A great day was had by all at Ferry Meadows in Peterborough yesterday where we were invited by our friends at East Anglia Air Ambulance to join them at their open day. We are very grateful to them for this opportunity and we are all looking forward to working with them very soon…. Watch this space….
A big thank you to all who turn up at St Ives today. We had a great turnout, had interest from potential new members and had fun escorting the carnival parade. The sun shone and the outriders enjoyed their personal mobile sauna – slow moving in motorcycle gear for over an hour!
As expected, the footfall fell sharply after the carnival parade departed. Hence, it was an easy decision to stack early and get home for a shower and change but not before totalling up our takings, £236.19.
I was pleasantly surprised by the marked increase in the number of people who stopped to tell they knew about us and/or had met us at other events. Your hard work supporting these event is paying off – our profile in the community is definitely increasing.
Well done and keep up the good work.
If you missed this one, there is still time to join us next Sat 19 Jul, at Ferry Meadows Peterborough where the Air Ambulance helicopter will be in attendance – a great photo opportunity. Looking forward to seeing you there.
A big thank you to all who for your supported us today at the St Ives Festival of Motorcylcles. Despite the inclement weather I think it was fantastic day out. We certainly had lots of enquires from potential new members and as usual there were loads of kids wanting to sit on the bikes. Today we collected £195.53 thank you all so very much.
Just thought we would share with you some fantastic photos from the Suffolk Show…
We had a very busy weekend. After attending the Leedsday presentation on Friday, two of our Bloodrunners, went to Kesgrave Bowls club to receive a cheque for £80. Thank you to all the members of the club for their donation.
A big thank you to all who helped at Peterborough and March yesterday. Both events got off to a very wet start and a baking hot afternoon – well it was baking hot for those clothed to survive the morning. Nevertheless, we had a great time with lots of interest from the public about what we do and I am confident that some of this interest will translate in new members. If we accept 8 year olds and under, we would be swamped with mini-moto members! In total we raise £505.93. Well done and thank you!!
Well done to all our BloodRunners who appeared in Cambridge City Centre on Saturday, a fantastic £429.79 was raised. Thank you to the members of the public who donated and to the potential new members who approached us.
Huge thank you to all involved in yet another very successful Suffolk Show. Please use the link below to hear of a very exciting proposed tie up with East Anglian Air Ambulance!! Many thanks to Mark Murphy at BBC Radio Suffolk for all the support..
Interview with Mark Murphy BBC Radio Suffolk
We’re here. We haven’t sunk. And we want bacon rolls!! Come And visit us at the Suffolk Show…..
On Sunday 25th May, SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire was delighted to participate in the 2014 Crowfield Truck Festival, near Ipswich. This was a particularly significant event, as it marked the official handover of the new exhibition trailer and it was broadcast live on Fresh Gold radio. The trailer was purchased by SERV S&C as a direct result of a very generous donation from the organisers of the Festival, as SERV S&C was their chosen beneficiary charity at last year’s festival.
SERV S&C’s Suffolk Events organiser, thanked the organisers, the truck drivers and their families and friends for their proactive support. The addition of the exhibition trailer marks a major step forward in presenting a professional image of SERV S&C at fund raising and recruiting events and it will act as a ‘magnet’ for attracting public attention. Please come and visit us at the Suffolk Show this week
Don’t forget to come and find us at the largest motorcycle show in Europe The BMF Show at the East Of England Peterborough- you can find us on stand R11-1 we will be there on Saturday & Sunday, you wont be able to miss our donated towing vehicle kindly on loan from www.chilterncoldstorage.co.uk
We had a fantastic day in Peterborough Cathedral Square yesterday where we attended the preview to the BMF event, thanks to the tremendous support from our members and to the first outing of our new display trailer. The new enhanced appearance of our display stand and a new AV presentation certainly pulled in the public and brought an exciting buzz to area. We collected £390.98 plus interest from a number of potential new members a fantastic result for an open street collection. Once again our members in attendance were amazing – thank you all so much, and thank you to Mulberry Group the organisers of the BMF event, and of course to the very generous people of Peterborough.
Also many thanks to Angela for her support in our photo below proving you’re never too old to be a BloodRunner!
We would like to extend a huge “thank you” to the SERV members who came and supported todays fundraising event in St Neots despite the damp start, and also to friends and family who came by for support! A grand total of £194.46 was raised – thank you for your support. It was a good day and we definitely had a couple of potential new members approach us for info. Thanks also to the ladies in the snack wagon for the free drinks and the most wonderful breakfast rolls!
We are delighted to announce that we were successful in our bid to Cash for the Community, supported by the Cambridge Building Society and the Cambridge News, we were presented a cheque for £246.88. We are very grateful to them and to everyone who sent in their tokens – thank you all!
SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire would like to thank Bidwells Community Fund who recently presented us with a cheque for £500. Thank you so much for your support.
We have today received a further donation of £500 from The Lions Club District 105EA which takes the total donated so far to £2,250. This really is a huge sum for which we are very grateful for the generosity of the Lions Clubs. Rest assured that we will put this donation to good use, helping others and serving our communities. Huge thanks to all the Lions Clubs and Members who have assisted in raising these funds.
Welcome Peter and Thank you So much to The Copdock Classic Motorcycle Club, you made this possible, we are so very grateful. Thank you also to Honda UK for their support in supplying and preparing this fantastic Blood Bike. Very soon this bike will be seen on the roads of Suffolk delivering Blood and helping others, how cool is that!!
Serv Suffolk & Cambridgeshire would like to thank the Management, Staff & Customers of Morrisions at Great Cambourne Cambridgeshire. Our volunteers were in attendance chatting to the public about what we do and a great time was had by all. We collected £530 and for that we are very grateful and thank you very much to all involved.
Just wanted to round up our recent events and appearances around Suffolk & Cambridgeshire. We visited Serpentine Green Shopping Centre in Peterborough, where a great day was had and it was really great to see so many new members join us on their fires events day. Overall in total we collected £539.27. This weekend saw us attending events at Huntingdon Town Centre and a return To ASDA at Stoke Park Ipswich whose continued support for SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire is really appreciated. On these two events we collected £440 and £300 respectively! Wow! Quite a fantastic amount and we are so grateful to our amazing hard working members who turn out to assist at these events, we could not do what we do without you. Ad a big thank you to the staff and management of our venues, your support is really appreciated, and finally of course to the people of Suffolk & Cambridgeshire, thank you all so much for your donations and support!
SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire would like to express our thanks to the Customers & Staff of The John Lewis Partnership in Peterborough who recently presented us with a cheque for £1,200. The donation is the result of the John Lewis Community Matters program where customers drop tokens in the bin of their preferred charity.
We are very grateful for this initiative, thank you very much.
Just wanted to say a big thank you to the shoppers and staff at Tesco Newmarket, we raised a whopping £520 on our collection last weekend. It was a huge success and thank you to our Bloodrunners who helped on the day.
Please help us secure grant funding by cutting out tokens in the Cambridge News and following the instructions printed in the paper. The more tokens collected for us the larger the grant we receive.
Tell all your family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, the man walking the dog on the park, anyone!!!
Attached is a poster that you can use to help drum up support and also some hints and tips on how you can get people collecting tokens for us.
Here are the key dates for you to remember:
Please visit www.cambridgebs.co.uk/cashforthecommunity for further details and email if you have any questions.
The Copdock Classic Motorcycle Club has given us an extraordinarily generous donation in order for us to buy a bloodbike dedicated to the memory of Peter Mittell. For those of you who have joined in recent times, Peter was one of our members who sadly died in a motorcycle accident near Ipswich in April 2012. He was well known in the local community and regarded by all who knew him as a true gentleman. His funeral cortege was escorted by over 40 bloodbikers and a guard of honour was provided at the crematorium by his colleagues from the prison service.
The significant donation from CCMC has enabled us to order a brand new bike, delivered in SERV livery and equipped with an LED blue light system. After evaluation of different bikes, and with advice from North West Blood Bikes (NWBB), we have ordered a Honda Crossrunner for service in the east of our region. NWBB had just completed a thorough evaluation of various models and they decided to order the Honda Crossrunner. They say that the bike is very well balanced, smooth, easy to ride and, unlike our current portly BMWs, light and manoeuvrable. It is also comfortable for tall and short riders with good weather protection and it will come with a taller screen, heated grips and fairing extenders to further improve the weather protection and provide rider comfort. The picture is an approximate representation of what it will look like.
Although we have equipped this bike with blue lights for fundraising shows, we hope that members will take the opportunity to book the bike for their bloodrunning duties. We will be clarifying the criteria on our website shortly but our intention is to enable as many members as possible to experience this bike during their time with SERV.
When the bike comes into service we will be holding a short service of dedication and blessing by the chaplain at Ipswich Hospital attended by members of Pete’s family, the CCMC , and of course members of SERV will be invited. In this way we hope that Pete’s memory will continue in service with us for many years thanks to the generosity of CCMC and your efforts in doing the duties and the bloodruns.
(NB: this is the second significant donation from the CCMC, many of you will have noticed their accreditation on the screen of our BMW R1200RT, which was also purchased by a donation from them)
Over the last twelve months local groups and the general public are recognising the value of our service to their communities and that we are a charity that really has a serious mission.
Our charity last year was supported by the Suffolk Land Rovers Owners Club who were impressed with our objectives and the service we provide, asked us if we could support them by having our vehicles displayed and manned on their stands and off road courses, this of course we were delighted to do.
The events at the Suffolk Show, Helvingham Hall Country Fair and Henham Steam Rally were great fun to attend and their end of season ‘Sausage Roll Meeting’ capped it off for us when, after getting very muddy and wet, they kindly presented SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire with a massive cheque for £4,065.
These guys, when they attend the shows etc, do so at their own time and expense which is very commendable. Without support from organisations such as theirs we could not continue to continue to develop and provide the services which we do as quickly as we do.
Thank You to all the SLROC members for their sterling efforts and we look forward to working with you again this year.
SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire attended the first Shotley WI meeting of the year after being invited to share what we do. The lovely ladies who attended had many interesting and probing questions for us. One of them, Fran, couldn’t wait to hop on the bike for a photo together with her guide dog Rosie who insisted on being in the photo! A big thank you to them for donating £125 to SERV Suffolk and Cambridgeshire
We have just received the following email from Dr. Beatty at West Suffolk Hospital. We thank her very much for her kind comments, but moreover we thank our volunteers for giving up their time especially over Christmas to deliver this fantastic service. I guess we really do make a difference!
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Beatty Cynthia
Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Subject: Thank you
To: Chris Smith
Chris
I just want to thank you and your team for the excellent service you provide to us and our patients. It makes a huge difference and we really appreciate the time that everyone gives to making the service possible.
Thank you
Cynthia
Dr Cynthia Beatty – Consultant Haematologist – West Suffolk Hospital
Our intrepid BloodRunners were out and about again this Friday, this time we were at Asda Rivergate Peterborough. In attendance was our liveried car, bloodbike and wee Robbie our mini-moto blood bike. The generous people of Peterborough donated a sum total of £326.26!, We are very grateful for your support. Thank you to our guys out there particularly on a weekday – a sterling effort!
SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire would like to thank Waitrose Huntingdon for their very kind donation of £519. This was raised through their community matters program, and we are very grateful for the generosity of Waitrose, their Staff & Customers. Thank you all so much.
Have you noticed the smart new items beginning to appear in our shop?? And all at a special discount for December.. What are you waiting for??? http://www.yourclothingshop.com/serv
SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire wanted to say a huge thank you to all of those who helped to support getting the Precious Cargo scroll successfully through our region, with a special thank you to our operations manager for arranging all the logistics with his usual military style and precision.
Whilst it was with our hospitals it was used to raise awareness about the issues midwives face in Africa. The scroll was used to gain signatures of support and raise funds to support them. Whilst all our hospitals contributed, it’s worth mentioning that when it was with Ipswich, they managed to obtain a fantastic 1,194 signatures in 24 hours which meant that the world record of 10,000 signatures on a scroll was broken. They also raised £2,409 which included a cheque from a SERV member who presented a cheque from his school for £759 which they had donated. The rest was raised mainly by selling cakes the midwives had made! From us the scroll made its way to its final destination to the Royal College of Midwives in London.
We are very proud to have been part of something that has been recognised nationally and to know we can always rely on our truly amazing members for support – thank you all so much.
Listen Again to the interview broadcast on Saturday 17th November.
Download Interview with Mike Amos & James Hazell
(please be patent it is a large download)
Or for 6 Days on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01k55wq
Interview starts at 1Hr 41mins.
A huge thank you to Waitrose in Huntingdon, from whom we recently received £519 from their Community Matters programme. We are very grateful to Waitrose and their customers for this support – thank you so very much.
Just to let you know that there are some discounts and bargains top be found in the SERV Clothing shop which can be found on this link SERV Clothing Shop. We are hoping to run the discounts right through to Christmas, so get on there and grab a bargain!
Also keep your eyes peeled for a new range which will be added very soon with some exciting new products including new hats and thermal wear – watch this space…….
SERV Suffolk & Cambridgeshire is pleased to support the “Bikers Christmas Toy Run”. So if any member would like to participate the details are as follows :-
Each biker and pillion will need to bring a toy, details of the list and route can be found at
https://www.facebook.com/camtoyrun13
On Twitter @CamToyRun13
This event is not affiliated to any particular group and we would appreciate it if only non-liveried bikes were used.
Therefore as requested by the organisers SERV jackets are NOT to be worn, and marked bikes WILL NOT be in attendance.
