VOLUNTEER RIDERS UK, protecting people, communities, families and you from Covid-19.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/229513121739915/?ref=share
I set Volunteer Riders UK up in March 2020. It was an idea I had to distribute completely free PPE across the UK using motorcycles.
I began the project as a memorial to my brother Rob ‘Jonesy’ Jones who died in December 2019, due to a long and undiagnosed nor treated illness aged 35, I wanted to ensure as many families as possible never have to unnecessarily experience the very real and agonising pain of losing someone they love. .
Since then we have as bikers took PPE from Devon to Scotland, from Gt Yarmouth to Wales.
We have provided transport for manufacturers and sewing groups all over, even utilising a plane to deliver to an African country. Every piece we carry is completely free to the end user. We do no fundraising nor do we have sponsorship, we are running completely on the good will, time, transport and fuel of our riders, coordinators and drivers. The people making the PPE do so again free of charge to the end users, though they may get funding from other sources.
We are a completely cashless group.
We have been responsible for transporting most of the PPE from amazing groups such as NHS Heroes, For the love of scrubs (FTLOS) and locally to me Sheilagh’s Sewing Circle in Dronfield.
We work with manufacturers, sewers and have our riders all over mainland UK and occasionally have liaised with groups in Ireland.
The group has currently around 3,800 members, is non-political in any way, and is a credit to every member who by being a part of it has made this immense project so successful.
We believe currently we have delivered massively in excess of 6,000,000 pieces of free PPE from masks to complete scrub sets.
We have not as yet even begun to calculate the miles ridden.
We provide to front line professionals both in and out of the NHS, hospitals, care homes, GP surgeries, schools, colleges, ambulance teams, community midwives, Covid recovery wards, Gt Ormand Street, along with giving them to vulnerable children, families and individuals.
Throughout the period we have been running it has been a huge learning curve and has displayed the best humanity has to offer.
So remember when you see that biker whether bearded, dripping in leather, covered in patches (like me) or wearing hi-viz like so many others, remember not only are they fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, grandparents or friends, but also likely are putting their all into keeping our families, friends, communities and country safe.
So when you want to clap a true hero just remember that hero may be closer than you think.
I am proud of each one of those trying to keep us all safe and call every member of VRUK brother, sister and forever my friends.
Jonesy VRUK founder.
Jonesy Dog of Socialism & the Trikerpoet 