• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

North East Connected

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Motorbike festival raises money for North East charities

A motorbike festival organised by a family of County Durham bikers has raised more than £2,000 for charity.

The second Park View Motorbike Festival was held in Chester-le-Street and gave people the opportunity to showcase their bikes in best in class competitions.

Trophies for each category were provided by local businesses and children were kept entertained with treasure hunts and face painting.

The event, which was organised by Chris, Kyle and Kate Grimwood, was attended by over 400 bikers and saw a total of £2,060 raised to be split between the Great North Air Ambulance and Northumbria Blood Bikes.

The festival was supported by Chester-le-Street and District AAP with Cllr Allan Bainbridge, Cllr Beaty Bainbridge, Cllr Simon Henig, Cllr Linda Marshall, Cllr Craig Martin, Cllr Paul Sexton, Cllr Craig Smith and Cllr Tracie Smith all contributing funding through their Neighbourhood Budget grants.

Cllr Craig Martin, ward member for North Lodge, said: “Chris and the team can be proud of their achievements – the phenomenal amount of money raised just demonstrates the hard work they’ve put in.

“This project is a standout example of how a bit of council input can have a massive pay out for the community. I was honoured to support this event and look forward to seeing it grow in the future.”

The festival was the brainchild of Kate Grimwood, a sixth form pupil at Park View School, who came up with the idea last year to help raise money for a school trip to Honduras.

“It started as a simple bike event to raise money to send school kids on a holiday of a lifetime, but with the enthusiasm and big hearts of local bikers Park View Motorbike Festival has proved to be a popular charity event, getting bigger every year,” said Chris.

Steve Clare, from festival sponsor bikedealer4u, said: “From our point of view it has been a great privilege to support both of these amazing organisations which do fantastic work looking after us in our time of need.

“It was brilliant to be able to give a little back while giving the people of Chester-le-Street a great day out and I hope it goes from strength to strength.”

By Emily