Despite many of our members having Full Time jobs, volunteers regularly give their spare time to help run and maintain what is a truly worthwhile charity -an organisation intent on making a difference to Health Organisations throughout Yorkshire.
We estimate that for each £1 received in donations to the Whiteknights, the NHS will save at least £5. Our volunteers provide the NHS and Hospices with an out of hours service which not only saves a substantial amount of money, but money that can be passed on to provide funding for more appropriate frontline patient care.
If you are an organisation who don’t yet have a Service Level Agreement in place with Whiteknights, but require emergency assistance, or for us to act as a relay with another Blood Bike Group, please either call our Emergency Dispatch Call Centre: Telephone: 01733 741948 & 0800 101 7800 or Call our Chairman, Andrew Foster Mobile: 07970 224420
During normal working hours, the NHS and Charitable Health Organisations use their own transportation systems to move Blood, Plasma, Tissue Samples, Documentation and other vital supplies between Hospitals, Hospices and Supply Centres.
Out of hours these systems maybe limited, and reliance can fall upon private hire taxi companies, commercial couriers and in exceptional circumstances, hospitals may have used emergency services such as the Police or Ambulance services.
This is a huge cost to the NHS and Charitable Health Organisations and this is where the Whiteknights Service Provision comes into its own. Our volunteers provide an out of hours service which not only saves a substantial amount of money, but money that can be passed on to provide more appropriate frontline patient care. We estimate that for each £1 received in donations to the Whiteknights, the NHS will save at least £5.
We are just one of many Charitable Associations that provide a similar service around the United Kingdom and we are governed and overseen by the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes NABB who share our mission to provide reliable, free and high quality provision to NHS trusts and hospices throughout the UK.
Our service is Free of Charge and operates out of hours through the night, Monday to Thursday 7pm to 7am and Friday 7pm all the way through the weekend until 7am Monday morning. We operate a Full 24hr Service during Bank Holidays including the Festive Period (Christmas and Boxing Day) and New Year’s Day.
Despite many of our members having Full Time Jobs, our unpaid volunteers still give their spare time to help run and maintain what is a truly worthwhile charity, and an organization intent on making a real difference to the care of patients.
Fundraising is an essential part to any charity. We have a fleet of 7 bikes to continuously run and maintain, with an approximate cost of £5-6k per bike annually. Donations either large or small are always gratefully received. We have no staff or premises to fund – donations from the public go directly into providing the operational Blood Bike service.
Since the charity was created in 2008, we have seen significant growth to our service with major NHS Foundation Trusts and Hospices realising the huge benefit of the service we provide in the Yorkshire Region.
Our mission is to further develop the service we provide and to maintain a professional and reliable ‘out of hours service’. We believe we can fundamentally aid and assist the overstretched NHS in Yorkshire. This is a huge undertaking for our charity as we rely solely on the huge generosity of the general public and local businesses that support us.
We continually strive to find new ways of improving the service to our customers and even the way we raise the funds to support and run it. We therefore are always looking for suggestions or innovative ideas.
Why not become an official fundraising partner for Whiteknights and acheive the status of “Whiteknights Angels…”
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Thank you to colleagues & customers at Tesco Store Brighouse for presenting Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes with £384 raised through charitable book sales.
We appreciate all the support we receive in the West Yorkshire community.
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On Friday evening Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes were presented with our Kings Award For Voluntary Service – the MBE for Voluntary Groups.
HM Lord-Lieutenant For West Yorkshire, Ed Anderson CBE presented the Award with a hand-signed certificate from King Charles III to our Chairman, Andrew Foster.Other guest dignitaries attending were two Deputy Lieutenants, The High Sheriff of West Yorkshire and the Mayor of Calderdale.
Thank you to Birties Events in Elland for excellent hospitality.
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Members of the Dewsbury Rockers Motorcycle Club have become “Whiteknights Angels” in recognition of their fundraising.
The Yorkshire Blood Bike charity, Whiteknights presented the fundraising award to Paul Morley and Catherine Foster.
West Yorkshire Manager for Whiteknights, Matthew Butterfield said: “After more than a year of fundraising, we very much appreciate the donation of £500 to support our voluntary service. They really deserve the award.”
Pictured from Whiteknights are Matthew Butterfield and Laurence Turner alongside Paul and Catherine from Dewsbury Rockers Motorcycle club.
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Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes publish their total statistics for 2024 – the year in which we were the only Blood Bike charity to achieve The King’s Award For Voluntary Service.
We remain on operational duty even through the recent snow and ice conditions. Our remarkable volunteers have adapted well to this and are taking extra care. The safey of our volunteers and the safety of the Blood Samples we transport is our priority at times like this.
It’s fair to say that this year our overall totals are slightly lower than 2023. We remain a flexible and adaptable service – there to respond to the needs of hospitals and hospices only when they have an urgent delivery requirement.
However in other areas there has been an increase. The collection and delivery of consignments of Donated Breast Milk increases from 32 to 96 deliveries in 2024. So too did the delivery of items from Pharmacy to hospices and patient’s homes – from 971 to 1104.
Having covered over 90,000 miles during 2024 – we are pleased to be able to contribute alongside other neighbouring Blood Bike charities by participating in 146 national relays. That has more than doubled from the 2023 figure of 64 relays.
We would like to thank all our friends and supporters who have financially contributed to support the work of our charity during the year. Together we believe we saved the NHS £155,736. Thank you most sincerely. We hope you appreciate just how much we are able to achieve with the limited fundraising capacity we currently have.
We would love to hear from people who would like to volunteer their time to support us – perhaps by attending fundraising opportunities. Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes remains a modest, highly committed group of volunteers, who currently number approximately 60 people across the whole of Yorkshire.
Contact us through our Facebook Page or email: info@whiteknights.org.uk
So please, continue your encouragement and support during 2025 we really appreciate it.
Donations in 2025 can be made through our Just Giving page:
Thank You!
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Here they are members of the South Yorkshire Team, pictured outside Laboratory Medicine at Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital.
Well done to all the South Yorshire Riders for being awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Pictured holding the presentation frame is South Yorkshire Manager, Roy Clark alongside Dean Tazzyman Laboratrory Manager, Northern General Hospitalm Sheffield
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Whiteknights North Yorkshire Team celebrate The Kings Award For Voluntary Service at York Hospital.Well done guys.
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Whiteknights Advanced-Qualified Volunteer Riders raise a glass in celebration of being awarded the Kings Award For Voluntary Service.
Well done guys!
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Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes have been meeting today at Calderdale Royal Hospital to announce to the public our Kings Award For Voluntay Service.
Here the Chairman, Andrew Foster is joined by representatives of Pathology and the Milk Bank
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Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes are delighted to announce they are to be awarded the Kings Award for Voluntary Service.
The King’s Award for Voluntary Service (previously Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service) is the highest award given to UK volunteer groups, being equivalent to the MBE.
The prestigious award recognises exceptional work done by volunteer groups in their communities.
Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes provide a free of charge, out of hours urgent transportation service by volunteer motorcyclists.
We urgently transport – within one hour, Blood and Pathology Specimen Samples, Controlled medications, Donated Breast Milk for Special Care Baby Units and other vital supplies for Hospitals and Hospices throughout Yorkshire
Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bike Chairman of Trustees, Andrew Foster said, “Since the creation of our Charity in 2008, we have grown to having 60 volunteer bikers and several operational Blood Bikes. Three volunteers are on duty every day of the year to serve hospitals in North, South and West Yorkshire.
“We now respond to over 3000 call-outs every year and also participate in national relays with other neighbouring Blood Bike Groups.
“We are delighted to receive this prestigious award – all our Whiteknights’ volunteer riders, past and present should be extremely proud of what our small charity has achieved.”
Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes was one of the 5 founding groups of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bike charities, which now has 36 member groups.
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A former Lord Mayor of Leeds has kick-started a campaign to replace a Leeds charity’s Blood Bike after it was severely damaged in a public car park.
Mr Keith Loudon, Lord Mayor of Leeds from 1993-1994, has donated £5000 to Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes, a West Yorkshire charity that provide urgent deliveries of blood samples, donated breast milk and vital medical supplies by volunteer motorcyclists.
In recognition of his donation and support, Mr Loudon received a fundraising award from the Yorkshire Blood Bike charity.
Speaking at the presentation Mr Loudon said: “The volunteer riders of Whiteknights provide an out-of-hours delivery service between hospitals and hospices. Many people are not aware of the vital service they provide during the night and at weekends. Their charity is run entirely on donations.
“It is such a shame that their ability to provide the service, which is totally free of charge to the NHS – has been thwarted by an out of control car smashing into their blood bike. I believe it is of considerable importance that this voluntary Blood Bike motorcycle be replaced as a matter of urgency,” said Mr Loudon.
North Yorkshire Regional Manager for Whiteknights Yorkshire Blood Bikes, Andy Richardson said of the donation: “We’re thrilled to receive the recognition and support for our voluntary service by Mr Loudon. Today we’ve awarded him our highest accolade, to become a Whiteknights’ Champion.”
“Our voluntary service is continuing to operate to support the care of patients in Leeds, but we are finding it a uphill challenge now that we have one less blood bike in our area.”
Members of the public can donate towards replacing the Blood Bike through the Whiteknights’ Just Giving page use the link below.
https://www.justgiving.com/whiteknightsyorkshire-bloodbikes
Pictured are Whiteknights Volunteer Riders Andy Richardson and John Driscoll alongside Mr Loudon.
Riders and drivers are the lifeblood of our organisation, without them we couldn't exist. We are always keen to hear from new prospective riders or drivers. However, before contacting us, we request that you confirm that you fulfil the following essential requirements in order to ride or drive for us:
We have teams in West, South, North and Mid Yorkshire. To ensure that we can respond quickly to urgent callouts, we would ask that you live within about 8-10 miles of the following areas;
We need both riders and drivers, which will depend on your area.
For both cars and motorcycles, we recognise both the IAM and RoSPA Advanced qualifications. There are local groups across the region to choose from. These include:
RoSPA / RoADAR Groups
West Yorkshire RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders (Cars and Motorcycles)
RoSPA / RoADAR GroupsWest Yorkshire RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders (Cars and Motorcycles)
North Yorkshire Advanced Riders (Motorcycles Only)
South Yorkshire Advanced Drivers (Cars only)
York Advanced Motorcyclists (Motorcycles Only)
York Advanced Motorists
Sheffield IAM (cars Only)
Sheffield Advanced Motorcyclists (Motorcycles Only)
Rotherham Advanced Motorcyclists (Motorcycles Only)
Huddersfield Advanced Motorists (Cars Only)
West Yorkshire Advanced Motorcyclists (Motorcycles Only)
How much does Advanced Training cost?This varies depending on the route you take, and the local group you join. Whilst the below offers a guide to the likely costs, please check with your local group in case there are any changes.
To keep your RoSPA / RoADAR membership current, you will need to take a 3 yearly re-test. The re-test fee is included in your yearly subscription costs, so there is no extra cost as long as your subscription is kept up to date.