Category: Charity

1. Africa's 1st Ladies Motorcycle Maintenance Workshop needs your help!

   Posted on 10:00am Monday 10th Oct 2016

   3 years ago, Claire Elsdon arrived into Capetown, having left London a year earlier alone on her Suzuki DRZ 400s to ride the length of Africa. Along the way, her understanding of how high quality motorcycle maintenance can play a major part in reducing the soaring road traffic death toll in Africa was born, along with her appreciation for the importance of giving opportunities to women to learn practical skills, which they can earn a sustainable living from for their families. As a result, earlier this year she moved to Tanzania to set up Africa's first motorcycle maintenance workshop staffed by female apprentices, called Pikilily.

   The good news is that Pikilily now has a workshop space near Lake Victoria in Mwanza, Tanzania, just a stone's throw from town. This workshop will provide a place for women apprentices to learn their very first motorcycle maintenance skills and before too long, open the gates to paying customers, enabling them to earn an income. 

   Many of Pikilily's customers will come from the 4,000 motorcycle taxi drivers in Mwanza, who are in great need of a reliable, safe & good value motorcycle maintenance service - impossible to find at present. Consequently right now, poor maintenance is costing riders precious time and take-home pay, but also sadly too often, their own lives and that of their paying passengers.

   Claire and the team can't wait to help and get started in our workshop but first, they need to raise some money to make it possible!

   They need to raise £500 to complete the refurb of the workshop. This would pay for watertight roof on entire premises, secure door and metal grill window to store room plus gates to main entrance, levelling and concrete the floor smooth in apprentice working area, fitting seating and working space in training room/office area and painting the Pikilily mural.

   In addition, they need to raise the funds to pay the next 12 months worth of rent - its £50 a month.

   They need tools, materials and equipment to equip each of the 5 workbenches in the apprentice area. The list is long but to give you an idea, a spanner would cost roughly £5, pliers £10, brake bleeding kit £30, set of torque wrenches £50.

   Ideally they would also like 2 small motorcycles on which to train the ladies in motorcycle maintenance. Such motorcycles retail at around $1000 each.

   To say thank you, a "Wall of Thanks" will form the backdrop to their work area. Names, countries and messages of support of those donating to this campaign will be written on there, nestled around the Pikilily logo mural, reminding apprentices each day of their friends across the globe who helped make this community project possible. The wall will appear in the regular workshop vlogs that Claire has been putting out since the start of the campaign.

   If you would like to donate, here is the link - www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/pikilily

   www.pikilily.com 

2. The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride Manchester 2016

   Posted on 12:00pm Sunday 25th Sep 2016

   A great turnout for The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride in Manchester
   
   

   
   
   See more here

   Great bikes and lots of very dapper folk @ Youles Triumph Manchester.
   
   

   25th September 2016
   The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

   For one day a year, however, thousands of Distinguished Gentleman (and genteel ladyfolk) in hundreds of cities worldwide press their cravats, starch their tweed and sit astride their classic-styled motorcycles to raise funds for prostate cancer research and awareness. 

   It’s a day all about spreading merriment, while raising awareness of a really important issue, that affects 1 in 8 blokes across the world. The fundraising supports research into Men's Health by bringing together dapper riders of classic machines, cafe racers, bobbers, custom motorcycles, trackers and undefinable two-wheeled creations.

   The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride is a celebration of the art of being dapper and the style of classic custom motorcycles. What does that mean, you ask? Think: Monocles, jaunty trimmed moustaches, silk vests, crisp shirts and tailored suits. Ride: Café Racers, Bobbers, Flat Trackers, Scramblers and quirky, undefinable two-wheeled machines. The styles of bike should be reflective of classic motorcycle nature. Think 1970's and the decades before them. Do: Bring your finest manners, neatest beards and a sense of fun and adventure.

   Pay: Nothing to ride (entry is free); but please consider helping our charities by getting your friends and family to sponsor your involvement. Or buy a patch, cap or tshirt. Every little bit helps. Dapper for a Cause: Where we’ve come from and where we’re headed. 
   
   In 2014, there was 20,000 smartly-dressed gentlefolk in 258 cities across 57 countries. 
   In 2015, there was 50,000 smartly-dressed gentlefolk in over 500 cities across 90 countries; straddle the saddle in the name of men’s health. 
   In 2016, there was over 55,000 smartly-dressed gentlefolk in over 500 cities across 90 countries; straddle the saddle in the name of men’s health. 

   venue: Thousands of riders in 500+ cities across the globe will ‘join the gentry’ on a ride to raise money for the Prostrate Cancer Foundation. Please note below are UK and Ireland events. Lots more listed on the website and facebook - Manchester event 
   website: www.gentlemansride.com
   facebook

3. Supporting Charities

   Posted on 2:00pm Thursday 18th Aug 2016

   As somebody who has been the voluntary and totally-unpaid chairman of a successful registered charity for almost 24 years, few things anger me quite as much as greedy and immoral ‘charity professionals’ whose only reason for being involved in any charity is blatant greed and self-interest. Not one of these vastly over-paid ‘executives’ would have any involvement in these charities if they were not receiving a big fat pay cheque and a ‘generous expenses package’ as they euphemistically refer to the open-chequebook used for their own convenience and comfort.

   Most bikers are rightly proud of their long history of supporting charitable causes; I just wish they would take the time to find-out how much of their support would be syphoned away by overpaid staff and/or greedy middle-men before deciding which charities to support.

   The charity sector is riddled with these gravy-train charities, Save the Children, Help for Heroes, Cancer Research UK and so many others should be taken to task for such blatant piracy but there seems little political will to do so and the much-vaunted ‘Charities Commission’ has fewer teeth than a daffodil when it comes to controlling the unbridled rapaciousness of many charity executives.

   The only way these grasping bastards will ever be put out to pasture is if enough of the public get wise to their unconscionable greed and withdraw their support.

   In 2015 twelve of the top 100 charities paid their highest earners more than £300,000 and thirty two of the top 100 charities paid their highest earners more than £200,000. And it’s not just the highest paid employees that people need to be aware of; Cancer Research UK has 189 employees who are each paid more than £60,000 per year, with its highest earner on £230,000 per year.

   Here’s a prime example of a greed-riddled charity that is overflowing with avaricious executives who are riding the gravy-train in the 1st class carriage. In February 2014, the Daily Mail reported the following information about the charity ‘Save the Children’:

   The charity ‘Save the Children’ has more than twenty of its executives on salaries of more than £100,000 per year. The Chief Executive of Save the Children International, Jasmine Whitbread is paid around £234,000 per year, and yet she still had time to take a second highly-paid job alongside actress Dame Helen Mirren and artist Tracey Emin in Marks & Spencer’s ‘Britain’s Leading Ladies’ fashion advert campaign.

   The chief executive of ‘Save the Children UK’ Justin Forsyth is on £163,000.00 per year. There have been questions raised in parliament about the indefensible salaries paid to these executives.

   Priti Patel, a member of the House of Commons ‘Public Administration Select Committee’, said: “Taxpayers and individual donors who bankroll these charities will be shocked to see the size of these colossal fat cat salaries. They deserve to know how decisions are made about salaries and who is paid them. The culture of secrecy that exists in some charities must come to an end.”

   Charlie Elphicke MP said: “Think charity and you think volunteers rattling their collecting tins, vocation, and compassion. You don’t think of mega-salaries. It’s unacceptable and it has got to change. Charities should be open and transparent.” 

   OK, this might seem a bit ironic coming from a greedy overpaid Tory MP with a huge expense account, but the point is no less valid for that (and that will no-doubt be a rant for another time).

   I remember a similar call for something to be done about the blatant piracy within this charity’s executive five or six years ago but obviously nothing was done about it.

   The 2015 Third Sector ‘Charity Pay Study’ reported the Save the Children International highest earner to have been paid £257,000 – £267,000. It also reported Save the Children International as having 184 employees who are paid £60,000 or more per year.

   Only public awareness and the boycotting of these corrupt charities will force them to change. All it takes is a little bit of thought and a few minutes research to be sure that your charitable cause is not a gravy-train for greedy immoral bastards!

   Even setting-up an on-line system to enable people to donate to a charitable fund-raising event can be a bit of a minefield. ‘Just Giving’ are one of the best known on-line charitable giving companies. Sadly they also take a commission from the donations made through their system and they charge any charities signed-up to this system a standing monthly charge irrespective of whether or not any donations are received in that month.

   Registered charity The National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD) refuses to sign-up to ‘Just Giving’ for these very reasons. 

   If you are thinking of setting-up an on-line donation page for a charity event there are one or two providers who do not fleece you or the charity you are supporting. Both ‘Give As You Live’ www.giveasyoulive.com and ‘BT Mydonate’ www.btplc.com/mydonate operate in such a way that every penny raised via your event page goes directly to the charity you nominate and there are no charges to you or to the charity you are supporting for this service.

   So, what about an example of a charity that doesn’t divert donations into fat-cat salaries?

   Well I know of one for certain, because I have been involved in it for 25 years. The National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD) guarantees that 100% of every donation will go directly towards the purpose it has been donated for.

   We have only two paid employees (admin staff); both are paid a rate agreed as fair after consultations with several trades unions (and this year, for the second time in five years, both have volunteered to forgo their annual pay revue to help the charity meet growing costs). The costs of employing these two paid employees are funded from the proceeds of our own direct fundraising events and merchandise sales, so none of it comes out of donations.

   All of the National Committee members and other official representatives of the NABD are unpaid volunteers.

   The question has to be asked, If a bunch of ‘raggy-arsed bikers’ can manage a charity this way, why can’t these so-called ‘professional charity executives’? And perhaps an even more pertinent question is: Why are so many bikers and bike clubs still supporting big gravy-train charities instead of an honest volunteer-led charity run by bikers for the benefit of bikers?

   If you’d like to know more about the NABD, see www.nabd.org.uk

   Rick Hulse

   (A slightly abridged version of this article was first published in Back Street Heroes magazine in July 2016).

   Please feel free to share this article.
   
   THE BIKER GUIDE® are proud to be affliated to the NABD. 
   
   

4. Care after Combat RV at the British Superbike Weekend - 6th August 2016

   Posted on 12:00pm Wednesday 3rd Aug 2016

   Brands Hatch has teamed up with Care after Combat for a fundraising concert compered by charity Chairman Jim Davidson OBE on Saturday 6 August, during the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship event at the Kent circuit.

   venue: Brands Hatch Circuit, Fawkham, Longfield, Kent, DA3 8NG
   price: £30 gives access to Concert + Practice and Race day. Camping is available for an additional £18.
   tel: 01636 557 703
   website: www.Careaftercombat.org
   facebook 
   twitter
   e-mail: [email protected]

5. It's all about Motorcycles and Blood Bikes.

   Posted on 12:00pm Wednesday 8th Jun 2016

   Severn Freewheelers are not a charity that has a front line operation; they do not fly helicopters, they do not go to the scene of accidents - they do not even operate during the day (except at weekends), so we tend to disappear under the public radar! However they do vital work – once you are in hospital all that urgency to get you there is wasted unless your blood samples, transfusion, medical notes get into the right hands, at the right time and that is where they come in, when hospital transport is not available  – 7pm to 7am, 24 hours at weekends and public holidays, 365 days a year. They even help transport frozen human milk, so very premature babies get a fighting chance. All run by volunteers who receive not a single penny for their efforts.
    
   They make 3,500 potentially life-saving calls per year. To raise funds and awareness they organise two great events - The Prescott and Shelsley Bike Festivals. 

   All proceeds from the festivals go to the regional Blood Bike group, Severn Freewheelers
   
   Here's a news video from last year that pretty much says it all.

    

   Shelsley Bike Festival, 4th September 2016

   A great Festival in 2015 and 2016 will be bigger and better. A great day out for motorcycle enthusiasts and their families. 
   
   See here for more