You’ve Got to Hand it to the Ladies!

This Boxing Day, the lady members of Northumbria Blood Bikes will be operating the first ever all-

female Blood Bike shift, an entire 12 hour shift on Boxing Day 2015, delivered solely by women.

Northumbria Blood Bikes, is the north east’s voluntary organisation that provides a free, out of 

hours, medical urgent and emergency item courier service, so across the Christmas and New Year 

period it’s volunteers will be out in all weathers making sure that Blood (and all the other vital 

items carried!) get through. 

The Blood Bikers of Northumbria Blood Bikes and other groups around the country are the unseen 

emergency service. 

In a first for any of the volunteer Blood Bike groups across the country, Northumbria Blood Bikes 

with three lady riders, one lady driver and their lady shift co-ordinators, will be covering all NHS 

Acute Trusts in the region, from Darlington to the Scottish Borders, including the Newcastle Upon 

Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust, which is one of the busiest in the country.

Philippa Bromley, Northumbria Blood Bikes’ first lady rider and one of those providing the service 

on Boxing Day said “For a long while I was the only female rider providing the service alongside my 

male colleagues. Now it's great that we have many more lady members in all four volunteer areas-

riding, driving, co-ordinating and fundraising. Every NBB volunteer whether male or female plays a 

vital role in providing the service 365 days a year, but by covering an entire shift with only female 

volunteers, we wanted to demonstrate how actively we are involved and how the group welcomes 

and supports its female members.”

John Stepney, Chairman of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes said “For many 

people Christmas is the most “important family” time of the year. However our life saving service 

must continue 365 days a year so we’ll rely on hundreds of men and women who give their time for 

free.  It’s with great pride that we are running our first ever Blood Bikes all female shift during 

Boxing Day 2015 and it is a wonderful showcase of the fabulous work our female volunteers do”

Since becoming operational in February 2014 Northumbria Blood Bikes is now on course to carry 

out its 5000th vital job for hospitals and the Great North Air Ambulance, to which it also provides 

daily support, by the end of this month – perhaps it will be during the ladies only Boxing Day shift!

For further information contact Peter Robertson via our contact page (General Enquiries)