Simon Bailes Peugeot is proud once again to support Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice annual festive fundraising ‘Santa Ride’.
For the eleventh year in a row, up to 130 motorcyclists including the fundraising team at Simon Bailes will dress up in seasonal garb for a bracing pre-Christmas ride around Teesside together with the Boundary 500 motorbike club.
Simon Bailes said: “Over the past 11 years, we have been proud to provide our backing to this wonderful charity ride. Zoë’s Place relies entirely on public donations and must raise £1.4 million a year to keep its doors open and we’re keen to continue to do our bit to help.”
Zoë’s Place Baby Hospice, which has three Hospices throughout the UK in Liverpool, Coventry and Normanby in Middlesbrough provides palliative, respite and end-of-life care to babies and infants aged from birth to five years old suffering from life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.
Simon Bailes will provide a livery on a new Peugeot 3008 SUV and a sound system which will be driven by Santa who will lead the parade and play festival music.
David Rathmell from Simon Bailes added: “The Santa Ride has certainly come a long way since the first year where we raised £1600, which we all thought was pretty good at the time. The generous people of the area have taken Zoë’s Place and the event to their hearts and the current total raised for Zoë’s since 2006 amounts to an incredible £244,000.
“The event is still growing in popularity with both the riders and the public who line the streets to cheer us on as we pass through Stockton and Middlesbrough and all towns on route to finish in Redcar.
“It’s also great to receive support from the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Mayor of Stockton and Middlesbrough and The Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire who will be visiting this year’s Santa Ride.”
Rachael Willmore, Community Fundraiser at Zoë’s Place added, “We’re delighted that Simon Bailes continues to support us in our annual Santa Ride. It costs around £3835 per day to run the hospice, and without regular donations from amazing people and businesses like Simon Bailes, we simply wouldn’t exist.”
Zoë’s Place first opened its doors and began welcoming our special babies and their families in 2004. Zoë is the Greek word meaning “gift of life” and Zoë’s Place believes that life is precious no matter how long it lasts. The hospice can take up to six infants at any one time and there is also ample accommodation and facilities for the whole family if required.
For more information about Zoe’s Place, please visit: http://www.zoes-place.org.uk/middlesbrough/