Bikers to deliver hundreds of chocolate eggs and gifts to Alder Hey this Easter

Bikers and scooter riders are coming together for an Easter Rideout, delivering hundreds of chocolate eggs and gifts to children at Alder Hey.

With some dressed up in Easter bunny costumes, between 150 and 200 riders are expected to make their way from Edge Lane to the hospital on Sunday March 29.

Organiser Geoff Bell will go on ahead in his car loaded with donations of eggs, as well as toys, games, colouring books and pyjamas for kids.

Geoff, who lives in Old Swan, has been planning the twice-yearly event for the past four years.

It was originally started 20 years ago with only scooter riders taking part until one of the founders, Terry Keane, was contacted by biker friends who do the Wirral Egg Run at Easter so now it’s a mix of scooters and motorbikes.

Geoff, who’s a member of Liverpool Scooter Club, has kept to the original route – leaving from McDonald’s on Edge Lane onto Prescot Road, back towards Old Swan, down Green Lane to The Jolly Miller pub and along Queens Drive to Alder Hey.

The only change he’s made is bringing it forward, so they now meet from 11am before setting off at 12 midday.

He says it’s something the riders, and staff and patients at the hospital, look forward to each time, and supporters enjoy seeing everyone in convoy.

Geoff says:

“I post the flyer on a few local residents pages because they like to come out and wave us on our way,”

“Some have asked to come along to McDonald’s and make donations, and others go straight to hospital and meet us there. 

“We give ourselves an hour between meeting and setting off because the bikers like to have time for a chat then we ride together to the hospital, with a lot of the bikers dressed up in fancy dress so it’s a really nice spectacle.

“The event is growing all the time and we usually get around 150 riders but if the weather is good we can get about 200. I wouldn’t want many more because we don’t want to overwhelm the hospital.

“As it is, the rideout is long enough to be a spectacle but short enough not to inconvenience traffic too much, and we always hold it on a day when there’s no football so we avoid clashing with match traffic on Queens Drive.”

The convoy is registered with police and accompanied by Bike Marshals, who were one of the recipients of Liverpool Scooter Club’s fundraising last year. They also donated to Bradbury Fields, which supports blind and partially sighted people, An Hour for Others, and the Snowdrop Centre for bereaved parents at Alder Hey.

As for donations to the Easter rideout, Geoff says he’s humbled by people’s generosity:

“We usually fill about three or four big metal cages on wheels once we get to the hospital. I go in my car which is quite big, and put all the donations in there because then, especially if it’s raining, nobody has to carry them on their bikes. 

“My car is always absolutely full to the hilt and last time I could barely get in to drive there was so much stuff in there.”

A one of a kind mobile cancer treatment unit supported by Alder Hey is coming to Liverpool this year, read more here.

Find out what else is going on in Liverpool this Easter here.

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