Appeals: Riders for Health

Riders for Health holds its fourth Day of Champions next Thursday at Donington Park, Leicestershire. It aims to raise some pounds 50,000 from the day of motorcycling events, which will feature an auction including helmets, gloves and boots donated by grand prix riders. The charity was founded in 1989 to co- ordinate the provision of motorcycles and maintenance equipment for health workers in eight African countries - Lesotho, the Gambia, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mali, Burkinafaso and Uganda - and has since raised nearly pounds 1m. The motorcycle is the cheapest and most practical way for medical and health services to reach outlying areas of Africa. Before Riders for Health was formed, efforts to establish fleets of bikes had failed owing to inappropriate equipment and organisation. The charity selects equipment and arranges training courses for drivers including basic maintenance instruction, to lessen the risk of breakdown of the agricultural specification bikes needed to tackle the tough terrain.

Riders for Health, The Old Vicarage, Norton, Daventry, Northamptonshire NN11 5ND, telephone 0327 76227.