UK Coastal charity bike ride

15th September

BLD SPONSOR NORTHERN BIKE RIDER

ON CANCER AND KIDNEY CHARITY RIDE

BLD Group, the specialist motorcycle claims and accident management company, has agreed to sponsor a charity motor bike ride in August 2010 which is seeking to raise over £10,000 to be split between Cancer Research UK and Kidney Research UK.

Damian Hartley, aged 22 years old and from Halifax, will be riding, a massive, 3,500 miles in just 10 days around the UK’s coastal roads, in fancy dress, starting and finishing in Whitby, Yorkshire. He will be travelling anti-clockwise around the coast, passing Teeside, Newcastle on Tyne Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness, John O'Groats, Dumfries, Blackpool, Swansea, Cardiff, Bristol Land's End, Plymouth, Southampton, Brighton, Dover, Southend, Great Yarmouth, Hull, Scarborough and back to Whitby.

BLD will provide sponsorship by way of providing a bike and helmet for Damian. At the moment Damian is seeking sponsorship in terms of accommodation and food for him and his support vehicle.

Damian, is a self employed lighting technician operating in the theatrical world, festivals corporate events and dance shows. The reason for his charity ride is that his mother June, 60 years old, was born with Progressive Diaphyseal Dysplasia (Engelmann's Disease) leading to the failure of her kidney at the age of 18. She was put on dialysis at the age of 24 and subsequently had a kidney transplant at St James Teaching Hospital in Leeds, at the age of 30.

The doctors had said that she would not be able to have children. In 1986 she had Damian and two years later his brother Colin was born who also has Engelmann's Disease. He had to be fed through a tube in his stomach which was by a machine, from the age of 2 1/2 until he was 7 years old.

In 1994 his mother went into hospital because of lumps on her arms. The doctors found out it was skin cancer. She has to go in every so often to have lumps removed now. Six years ago while she was getting a lump removed, the doctor found a lump on her breast, they found out that that was cancer, to have it removed, she had a mastectomy the same day. This was because of all the medication that she takes from having the kidney transplant, which is now 30 years old and medication has evolved and changed since then. June comments “I was given a new lease of life 30 years ago and even with what I know now, I wouldn’t change it for the world”.

Damian comment on his charity ride said,

“I have always wanted to do things for charity but always ended up sponsoring others. I was a client of BLD once when I had an accident – not my fault – and they looked after me and my bike brilliantly. I’m absolutely delighted that they have agreed to lead my sponsorship quest and hope over the next twelve months that we can not only match the target of £10,000 but exceed it by some margin.

I am looking for other sponsors and riding 3,500 miles in such a short space of time will be no mean feat, so fitness will be a key factor if anyone wants to volunteer as a trainer?!”

Mike McMillan, BLD’s Claims Director added,

“We are delighted to be able to give Damian a head start in his quest to raise money for his chosen charities as well as support him on the event itself. He has plenty of time to prepare and on that basis we are confident that he will attain both his distance and fund raising targets.”

For more information and to support Damian by becoming a fan or joining his group, just type ‘UK Coast Charity Bike Ride 2010’ into Google, or check him out on BLD’s, favourite pages box. www.bldgroup.co.uk

For further information please contact:


BLD Group Tel: 0845 4020645
Jemma van Overbeek, Marketing Assistant

Lothbury Financial Tel: 020 7011 9411
Simon Astley

Notes to Editors

Background to BLD Group

BLD group was established in 2000 and specialises in motorcycle claims and accident management services with the largest fleet of bikes in the UK today. In 2007 BLD broadened its services by investing in two state of the art motorcycle repair centres providing full UK nationwide coverage to the major insurance brokers.

BLD provides its services primarily to motorcycle insurance brokers and also to insurers, ULR/LEI providers, solicitors, dealers, bodyshops, CHOs and individuals. BLD also provides claims reception facilities, salvage services, replacement bikes and bike transportation services through its UK infrastructure.

BLD is the only company in these sectors to focus solely on the motorcycle market and is therefore the only true specialist in this sector.

www.bldgroup.co.uk