Ride to the Dunes for Me & Dee

So I visited the English seaside resort of Mablethorpe at the weekend and if you were also there you may have heard a bit of noise on bank holiday Sunday in the town centre. This my friends was no earthquake it was the glorious sound of motorbikes, absolutely loads of them. There is nothing quite like the sound, fills me particularly with excitement. I used to hop on the back of a motorbike myself back in the day and have to say it was some of the best times I ever had, I had a very warm nostalgic moment. Why were we here though Sue from the Brew? Amongst these lovely friendly bikers?

We all gathered as part of Ride to the Dunes which is a ride out for bikers from Nottingham to Mablethorpe raising money for The Maria Hanson Foundation - Me and Dee Charity. Maria Hanson is the founder of this lovely charity and it provides holidays within two caravans situated on the Haven site in Mablethorpe for anyone with a life limiting condition and also physically and emotionally injured service men and women. There is a real chance to help these families create some very precious memories when life is short or so desperately difficult to cope with at times. I've had the privilege of meeting some of the families whom have been helped by Me & Dee and I can tell you if makes a massive difference to their lives. Imagine for a moment that someone you loved and cared about had a short time to live or was struggling and finding it difficult to adapt to life outside of military life in some way. Would you like to give them a chance to just go and spend time with family and enjoy a holiday enabling them to hold on to some lovely memories to last for maybe, in some cases the short time they have left together? This weekend was just one of the many times we could all get together and help Maria and her charity, raise very needed funds enabling her to make this happen for these families.

The scene was quite emotional as the ride out made it's finale riding down the High Street in Mablethorpe. They draw a huge crowd who just love to watch them all take over the town for a little while. I spoke to one of the riders afterwards and he was just overwhelmed how people came out to see them and clapped as they rode through, he said ' they came out for us'. I thought it was lovely. There is always a warm friendly atmosphere when around the biker community, they are truly some of the best people around. 

They were all welcomed at The Dunes Complex in Mablethorpe where Paddy and Debbie Prince and the staff provided some very much needed food and refreshments. There was a chance to buy some Me & Dee merchandise from the stall, enter a raffle and to get a rest before the long ride back again. It was a fun packed day and a big well done goes to all the riders that took part, everyone that helped to collect money, bake cakes to sell, marshalls, and close friend of the charity Donna Batchelor and her family who work very hard to organise this event.

If you would like to see all that went off this year and you fancy coming along next year, there is information on the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Ridetothedunes/

or.... if you would like to see more about the Me & Dee Charity you can find all the information you need at www.mariahansonfoundation.org.uk
Please take a look and especially at the testimonials as this will give you an idea of how important the work done by this charity really is and what it means to the families who have already received holiday's so far....

Thank you very much for reading. I will be back with a Verse for Thursday tomorrow.