Trikes R us, founded in 1995, is one of the biggest trike only clubs in the UK, although based in Lincolnshire, is both a national and international club with members as far away as Scotland and Holland.
Each year the club holds its annual rally – TRIKEFEST, and since 2004 the club celebrated its 10th rally by moving to a new bigger and better venue, the Littleport Leisure Centre in Littleport, Cambridgeshire.
The club also support local charitable causes during the festival, and this year, teamed up to raise money for No Gain No Pain UK (NGNPUK), a small local charity raising money for syringe drivers to be used in people’s homes.
Club spokesperson and vice chair Nicky Harrison said “Our chairman Ged Kettle, challenged me to find a charity local to Littleport in Cambridgeshire to work with. As a club, we wanted to give something back to the people of the local community who support our Trike rally every year!”
Syringe drivers are small portable machines that nursing staff can program to give a patient a continuous stream of pain relieving medication and other drugs in palliative care. They can help patients remain comfortable at home with their families instead of having to go into hospital or a hospice.
Through bitter experience Louise Nicholls and her family found that there were a limited number of these machines available when her dad needed one to manage his pain at home in December 2013. After more research Louise found that many local towns and villages shared just one or two machines to cover large areas with some patient’s requiring more than one machine at a time to help with managing pain and administering drugs.
In 2015 along with her husband Lee and friend Samantha Carter they began fundraising to supply more machines for local communities and No Gain No Pain was formed.
Each syringe driver costs £1100 and just one of these machines can help so many people in its working lifetime.
NGNPUK have handed over 61 syringe drivers to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust to date, and with support from Trikes R us, have now been able to make their first donation to the community nurses for use within the Fenland region. This includes Ely and Littleport, the home of Trikefest!
All of the previously donated syringe drivers have been in constant use since they were handed over and have made a huge difference to patients, their families and the nurses. Louise said
“Not many people know about these machines and sadly it’s not until someone you love needs one that you would. No one should have to wait. We have had some amazing support such as the generosity of Trikes R us and their members, without it people would still be going without these vital machines.
We are so grateful to Trikes R Us, and we know from letter and messages we receive it is making a real difference to people out in our communities.”
http://trikesrus.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/ngnpuk/
https://ngnpuk.weebly.com/
