Midlands Riders deliver Christmas cheer to poorly children in successful toy drive
A huge motorcycle group gathered for their annual Christmas ride-out, delivering presents to a children's hospital.
The Midlands Riders began the toy drive a few years ago, first visiting Telford hospital in 2018, and expanding to visit both Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals in 2019, delivering presents to sick children for them to open on Christmas Day. 2020 was affected by the pandemic, so this year is the third year the group has been able to gather to make the donation.
Chrisy Thomson of the Midlands Riders said: "This year we wanted to deliver to the Birmingham Children's Hospital. It is just a fantastic way to give back.
"We are a nationwide organisation, we have members from other countries, and before the pandemic our rides have have hundreds and hundreds of bikes. This year though the support for this toy drive has been more online."
The Riders had been pushing for donations of presents to be given to the hospital, and even before they gathered in Shifnal on Saturday morning, their delivery van - laid on by a local business - was already filling up.
By the time it left Shifnal it was chock full of all sorts of gifts for the children to unwrap on Christmas.
"We had to do it earlier this year," Chrisy added, "the presents were delivered to the service entrance, and put in cages so they can be quarantined, and are safe to be delivered on Christmas Day."
A spokesperson for Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust said: “We would like to say a big thank you to the riders for their generosity and support. Being in hospital is hard at any time of year but even more so at Christmas, so kind gestures like this mean so much. Thank you to everyone involved.”
Miranda Williams, head of public fundraising at Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity, added: "We're so grateful to Midlands Riders for this absolutely incredible donation. The bikers have supported us at Christmas for several years now and their visit is always a highlight for both our patients and our staff. Their wonderful generosity will certainly bring a smile to the faces of hundreds of sick kids at our hospital over this challenging festive period and we're so very thankful for their support."
