D'ya fancy doin somefing for chaaaarety, mate?

Hi guys, I've recently joined SERV Emergency Volunteer Riders. They have been very successful in the South East and have started to expand around the Oxfordshire area. Currently I'm the most westerly volunteer, but there are interesting in finding other riders west of Oxford as they do occasionally get runs out this way.

The other thing that the group is short of is local hospitals to sign up with them. As I said the South East have been very successful, but its a new entity in this area and therefor a bit of a gamble.

The third area they need help with is fund raising... they are going to be running a stand at BSB and WSB in Silverstone, another at the Bulldog Bash and others in Shopping centres around Oxfordshire.

If anyone here can help with any of the above, has contacts with the local hospitals etc, or can suggest other good fund raising venues, please drop me a line... I'll post up the main SERV contact in the area if anyone is interested, I just don't have his details on this system.

John,...very good cause, and as year-round all weather riders ( ) with a long history of supporting good cases, I suspect this is something that the GS community can really get behind...Ralphy and Cheesy Mike are already high profile supporters, but it might be worth expanding on......

All the info you've got, contacts etc......lay it out

Leave it with me, I'm a very new member within the local group, but I'll post the details I have as soon as I've checked that people don't mind me publishing them (seems the polite thing to do )

The big thing we are looking for at the moment, I guess, is contacts around Oxfordshire/Wiltshire/Gloucestershire who have the ear of the hospitals, blood banks etc. The group is very new in this area and looking for local hospitals to sign up.

The other thing we are desperate for if publicity and fund raising opportunities, so any and all ideas welcome.

Nice one John!

I've also just joined SERV with the aim of taking part in a new Herts & Beds service. The guy who's putting it all together is away at the moment, hopefully kicking it all off in March time when he returns.

You're right about the hospitals - I gather that finding riders is only the start, getting hospitals to sign up can take some time.

The very best of luck! Do keep us posted with how you get on.

(And, please excuse the thread hijack, but if any Herts and Beds riders are interested in supporting SERV as a duty rider, drop me a PM and I'll put you in touch with the local coordinator round these parts )

bakerlonglegs said:

(And, please excuse the thread hijack, but if any Herts and Beds riders are interested in supporting SERV as a duty rider, drop me a PM and I'll put you in touch with the local coordinator round these parts )

Click to expand...

No worries at all on that front, as I said I'm new and didnt realise there were other groups (just shows how much attention I pay )

Fanum, would it make sense to move this to an area where it would get more general attention and make it more of a general SERV thread?

John I'm interested to know more about this ... would you keep me posted.

I have to be honest I've never heard of SERV.

Thanks

K.

There's also Freewheelers in the South West.

http://www.freewheelers.org.uk/

How many more groups are out there... do we know ?

I'd like to know what areas are covered by these volunteer groups.

Is this voluntary service well known around the UK or just regional based ?

Duchess said:

I have to be honest I've never heard of SERV.

Click to expand...

Hi Duchess, no worries, happy to tell as much as I know and to be honest I'm guessing you won't be the only one not to have heard of them.

From My understanding SERV started in the South East as a voluntary organization, helping hospitals by delivering blood and blood products, where ever they needed to go.

In the South East SERV volunteers are available to deliver Emergency Blood Products from the National Blood Transfusion Units out to a number of hospitals in the South East free of charge. This is a service that other hospitals in the country are having to pay professional curriers a premium for and are not always receiving the level of service they pay for.

As a volunteer you are maybe on call one night a fortnight maybe less, it all depends on what hospitals have signed up in your area and the amount of blood etc they need. SERV are currently trying to expand out of the South East taking on new counties as the go. I’ve seen their stand at a number of big bike events over the last few years and currently find myself in a position of having a decent bike D as long as I don’t have to go through puddles) and having the time to spare, so I decided to sign up.

Progress in extending beyond the South East seems to be slow, the main issue being getting the hospitals to sign up to a completely unknown and untested services. They also need additional volunteer riders in some of the areas and help with fund raising, hence my initial posting here.

Judging from Bakerlonglegs comments it looks like there are other groups popping up, so if anyone else here know of new SERV groups please feel free to speak up

Duchess said:

How many more groups are out there... do we know ?

I'd like to know what areas are covered by these volunteer groups.

Is this voluntary service well known around the UK or just regional based ?

Click to expand...

I've just got an email back from Dave Sammons, he's the Oxs and Bucks regional bloke, hopefully he'll sign up here and be able to tell us all some more, because I feel I'm floundering a bit here I don't know if any of you have come across him he is a moderator on www.traffic-answers.com/forum

I think one of the suggestions was that I might become a runner between SERV and Freewheelers sitting as I am between the two groups... but its just me at the mo

Almost forgot... Dave's details are

Mobile 07999 623637 or the e-mail address is ox-bucks@serv.org.uk

Fantastic ... thanks for that information.

Hi all. Johnathon's asked me to come and see if I can help answer your questions. I'm the Oxon, Bucks & Northants co-ordinator for SERV.

SERV has been running in Sussex, Surrey and Kent for 26 years this year. We deliver blood "out of hours" to hospitals in our local area. For our group that's no less than 7 different NHS trusts!!!

As you may or may not know, in the majority of areas, the National Blood Service vehicle don't run between the hours of 7pm and 6am, meaning if a hospital requires blood during this time they have to pay either for a taxi or a courier to deliver it. This is not only time consuming in terms of admin, but also costs thousands of pounds a year - all of which could be used directly for patient care!

SERV is different. Al of our riders are volunteers. We are a registered charity (284455 - sad I know that off by heart). Our riders receive nothing but satisfaction for being members - they use their own bikes, their own fuel and their own time. Riders are generally asked to perform one duty every 14 nights or so, but obviously this can vary depending on location, how busy we are etc.

The Oxon, Bucks & Northants group is the first to be formally set up since SERV began in the south east. Other groups now rapidly becoming established include the Hertfordshire and Hampshire groups, and others that are still in fledgling state around the country. My belief is that the ideal would be t have nationwide coverage within 5 - 10 years!

As someone has mentioned, the Freewheelers currently serve areas of the south west, and our group in particular is looking to undertake "relay" runs with them, further enhancing the service we can both offer. SERV will not be starting groups in the area already covered by Freewheelers - they're an ally and certainly not competition in any way!!!

All of the SERV groups are looking for volunteer members or sponsorship in whatever way possible. For example, Sussex have just been sponsored and now have fully liveried bikes to undertake their duties on. Our group at present is trying to raise money for marquee (300 pounds), a banner (50 pounds) and other fundraising and profile raising items - everything from financing leaflets to the collection buckets themselves.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please don't hesitate to contact me in the central south midlands area or membership@serv.org.uk
Alternatively, please feel free to visit the SERV website www.serv.org.uk or ask any questions on here and I will do my very best to help!

Ride safe!

Welcome to the site Kawasaki Dave ... good to see you here.

I have a whole host of questions I'd like to ask you I'll be in touch with you as soon as I can ... maybe post here later when Ive had time to check out your website.


Its an interesting project you have running there .... thanks for taking the time to post.

No problem Duchess - I'll look forward to speaking to you!

To reinforce Kawasaki Dave's reply, SERV and Freewheelers are looking to work closer together as their patch and our patch get closer.

To answer Duchess' question there are quite a few groups around. If I had the time I would pull together a directory.

I ride for the Bristol/Bath/Somerset Freewheelers and maintain their website - http://www.freewheelers.org.uk

The name "Freewheelers" is used by a number of other groups as well. There are Freewheelers groups now starting up in Dorset (Poole & Bournemouth initially) and in Gloucs/Hereford/Worcs. Both are very close to entering active service. The Dorset group bought our old ST1100. The Severn group have just bought an ex-demonstrator ST1300 off Honda - the same route we got our 4 x ST1300 bikes.
http://www.dorsetfreewheelers.co.uk
http://www.severnfreewheelers.co.uk

There used to be a group in the Telford area called Albrighton Freewheelers but they seemed to have gone quiet recently. There is also a small Freewheelers group in South Somerset based in and around Yeovil.

Mike

What a number of interesting coincidences...

Firstly I went to my first SERV meeting today, the Oxon, Bucks and Nothants group are on the verge of signing up their first to hospitals and are looking for additional volunteer riders particularly between Oxford and Reading, though any volunteers anywhere will be gratefully received.

Secondly it turns out I’m not the only one on a GS in the group, one of the other guys has an 1150.

Thirdly at least two of the guys know MMC, Mark you just get everywhere mate

Fourthly and possibly finally, I was looking at a property in Cheddar yesterday with a view to moving…

Anyway, if you want to look good in hi-viz, drop either myself of Kawasaki Dave a line... and remember it's not a disease it's just another type of bike

With my current 'work' situation and free time (working ad hoc to keep the pennies coming in in between Moto-Morooco trips and organising the next one) I'd really like to get involved in something like this......

Google doesn't turn up anything similar in Kent/SE London.....

Is there a branch or plans to launch one (Would like to help if there is) down here in the S.E???

If not, why not, or should I just get to grips with it and sort some people out to launch one ourselves???


Genuinely interested in doing this.

Bill

Bill - SERV cover the south east - especially Kent, Sussex and the West of London/Middlesex.

LiquidLAN - good to hear that you are seeing the light and thinking about moving to Cheddar Give me a call if you come down again and stop in for a cuppa. 07802 797486

Mike

Hi Bill, check out http://www.serv.org.uk/

SERV started down in that area of the country and has apparently been running for 25 years now... its a bit poor that they haven't popped up on a web search. Let me know what you tried searching on and I'll try and feed that back.

Hi Mike, cheers for the invite - it's still early days but it would be good to get an inside angle on the area so I'll definately give you a bell when I'm next down there.

John

Got some good news to day SERV in the Ox, Bucks and Beds area have signed up their first hospital with a couple more keen to see how it goes and sign up soon.

All this thanks to the work of one John Stepney - top bloke!

The upshot is that they will soon need more riders in this area, if there is anyone out there keen and interested, let me know and I will point you in the right direction.