Coronavirus: Bikers in Bodmin rev to the aid of residents during Covid-19 lockdown

Group of riders are delivering shopping, medicine and occasional homemade birthday cake during pandemic

Bodmin Bikers (Bodmin Bikers)

From Marlon Brando in The Wild One to Hell's Angels wreaking a spot of Bank Holiday havoc on some unsuspecting seaside town, bikers, it is fair to say, have not always had the best of reputations.

“We definitely get judged,” says Lee Bowers today. “People see a group of you sat outside a café and they’ll cross the road. But most of us, we’re the most friendliest helpful people you could meet.”

The 46-year-old is one of 18 riders in Cornwall currently trying to prove the point.

A group of rev-heads here have come together to create an entirely unique delivery service to help during the coronavirus lockdown.

The newly formed Bodmin Bikers collect shopping and medicine – and, in one case, frozen mice to feed a pet python – for isolating residents in the historic town, and then leave it at the doorstep.

So invaluable has the volunteer service become that the group – which includes a chef, plumber, police officer and NHS worker – are now running an average of a dozen drops every day.

Among their missions have been delivering homemade birthday cakes from grandparents to grandchildren, a couple of Easter egg runs last weekend (including, of course, other essentials) and the standard big shop and pharmacy pick-ups for elderly residents. One local even asked them to pick up an order of frozen mice from a pet shop for his snake.

“That’s fine by us,” laughs Lee who runs his own vehicle repair business. “As long as we don’t have to handle the snake.”

The service started entirely organically when town resident Kye Smith saw a message on Facebook asking if someone could collect some essentials.

The army reservist offered to do it on his bike; then realised there might be a wider need as the Covid-19 lockdown began to pinch.

From there he and a couple of friends set up the group and were soon joined by like-minded riders from across town, all willing to volunteer their time, their wheels and their petrol. So organised as it become, that the group – which is aged from 16-67 – now runs a roster so at least two bikers are always ready to go as requests come in via phone and Facebook. Unlike Tesco or Ocado, they guarantee a same-day service.

“People always say when they’re requesting a drop, ‘What you’re doing is fantastic so need to rush on mine’,” says Lee. “We always, ‘Well, we appreciate that but we’ll have it with you later this afternoon.”

They themselves keep safe, he says, by wearing gloves, carrying sanitiser, asking for card payments where possible and leaving drops on doorsteps and then moving two or three metres away.

Except, hang on: is this really entirely philanthropic? Or have these bikers simply come up with a (albeit useful) way round government restrictions which would otherwise mean less riding?

“Of course not!” laughs Lee. “We’re living through something none of us have ever gone through before and we all need to pull together in whatever way we can. I can't make a vaccine, can I? But I do have a bike and they're ideal vehicles for delivery, so let's put that to good use.”

The briefest of pauses. “If that means we get to ride as well, that’s just a nice bonus.”

Certainly, their efforts appear appreciated in the town. The group’s Facebook page is packed with positive comments while a recent drop at a retirement complex in the nearby village of Saint Teath saw residents come out onto their balconies to give a standing ovation.

“Brilliant, it was,” says Lee, a grandfather-of-three. “Older people – heroes themselves – showing their appreciation. It was like, ‘No, thank you’.”

Now, he says, he would encourage other groups to form in other towns.

“We had a guy from Exeter get in touch to say, 'I’m a little far to help in Bodmin but if anyone asks for a drop this way, let me know' – so it would be nice to inspire others,” he says.

And after this is all over the group – most of whom had never previously met – plan to keep doing good.

The one thing bikers like to do together, says Lee, is ride. Because of current restrictions they have not been able to do that since forming. “But we’ve said, when all this is over, we’ll have an annual road trip somewhere and keep raising money for charity,” he explains. “We all want to make sure that some good comes from all this.”