Page and Bird Tyres and P and K Training help Norfolk charity serving Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

A team of volunteer blood bikers have been helped by two King's Lynn companies keen to support the charity.

The SERV team, which provides a volunteer out-of-hours service for hospitals in and around Norfolk, will have no tyre problems thanks to dealers Page and Bird, of North End.

The bikers have also received free first aid training from Lynn's P and K Training Services.

The charity has two fully-liveried motorbikes, Barbara B - a BMW RM1200RT donated by the League of Friends from Lynn's Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) and Kermit, a Honda NT700 which is the group's latest buy.

The bikes are used to provide the free of charge delivery service for hospitals, delivering blood, samples and many other vital supplies, 365 nights a year and during weekends and over Bank holidays.

'Page and Bird have looked after the tyres on my own bikes for many years', said SERV Norfolk's County Secretary David Parish.

'I've got total confidence in them, so naturally they were the first people I approached to help us with the tyres on SERV Norfolk's bikes.'

Page and Bird director Kevin Page said: 'When David told me about the work he and the other SERV Norfolk volunteers do on the blood bikes, we were really impressed and very happy to be able to help them.'

Around 20 members of the charity have also had first aid training and received certificates from P and K, in St Anns Street.

'While our riders don't have any specific first aid responsibilities, when Angela at

P and K offered to run some courses for us, our volunteers were very keen to take up the opportunity to learn important first aid skills, as you never know where and when they may be needed,' said Mr Parish.

Angela Pilkington, from the company, said: 'When David told me about what he and the other SERV Norfolk volunteers do to help our hospitals, I was very impressed and keen to help SERV Norfolk in any way we could.'

In 1981 a group of motorcyclists formed the first SERV (Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers) group in Surrey, to offer their local hospitals a completely free alternative to using expensive couriers and taxis to transport blood and other urgent requirements out of normal hours.

The first meeting of SERV Norfolk was in in February 2011 and the organisation went live in the county on September 30.

The organisation's 80 volunteers use a small fleet of liveried bikes to provide their services to the QEH and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, which also includes trips to Addenbrooke's. in Cambridge.

The group receives no government funding for its work and has to raise every penny needed to run the service through donations from the general public, charitable groups and corporate sponsorship.