Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes receive new car named in memory of the Duke of Edinburgh

Royal consent has been given to name a new car – to be used by the Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes volunteers – in memory of the late Duke of Edinburgh.

The team took delivery of the vehicle to add to their fleet of motorcycles, whose riders deliver vital items in support of the region’s NHS, at a Platinum Jubilee party on Morrisons’ car park in Dumfries yesterday.

It has been funded by Dumfries Hospitals’ League of Friends and honours Prince Philip who died in April last year.

It also recognises the honour bestowed on Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes in 2018 when it was awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Dumfriesshire Lord Lieutenant Fiona Armstrong attended the ceremony along with members of Blood Bikes, the NHS, and Morrisons community champion, Myra Smith, as the supermarket is a big supporter of the team.

This week marks the seventh Anniversary of Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes going live.

A spokesperson for them said: “Since going fully operational on the June 1, 2015, things have changed so much. We as a team would never have believed that we would have grown into the charity that we are part of today.

“In the first month of operation we completed 12 runs, supporting the patients from Stranraer and Dumfries on an out of hours basis. Things soon changed and we evolved into one of the only free 24-hour Blood Bike groups in the UK. We are now responding to over 160 runs monthly, each helping countless patients, covering about 25,000 miles.”