A motorcycling school from Littleport are taking to their bikes across the Fens in a bid to rally the local community together.
Amanda Hellmann and her team of riders at the AAA Motorcycle Training School are offering to collect and deliver prescriptions free of charge, as well as providing Compulsory Basic Training sessions (CBT) to the public during the coronavirus pandemic.
Amanda, alongside partner Dean Abbess and daughters Lori and Sam who help run the business, only started to advertise the idea this week but it has since become increasingly popular with residents.
“We need to pull ourselves together,” Amanda, who is a director and instructor at the school, said.
“Anybody that needs prescriptions we will do it free of charge. We can cover Ely, Soham, Littleport, Newmarket, March, Chatteris and all the surrounding villages.
“If you want to ride a 125cc (motorbike), you have to complete your CBT in a day. We are offering all one-to-one CBTs because then there is less interaction.
“We are taking lots of precautions. People need help at the moment, and if we can help pharmacies and hospitals, we will.”
The idea came to life after staff at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge only gave Amanda, who was diagnosed with adrenal cancer in 2015, just months to live.
Now, the mother-of-five wants to give something back.
“I am still here and it is time to give back,” Amanda said.
“We like helping the community. We are doing everything to keep ourselves safe because we have got families and our own responsibilities.
“If people need shopping collected, we can help. This is community-based; it is something we can do without putting ourselves and others at risk.”
The AAA Motorcycle Training School, which was crowned Family Business of the Year at the Ely Standard’s East Cambridgeshire Business Awards last year, has previously helped with community efforts such as Littleport foodbank.
They are also offering a 10 per cent discount on CBTs for key workers, such as those working in health and retail, and will aim to continue supporting residents for as long as possible.
“A lot of our staff are NHS or retail workers who rely on mopeds to get to work,” Amanda added.
“If we can do our best to keep people safe, we will do it. If we could do it for free, we would.
“We will keep offering this service until it is over or the government say we cannot ride anymore.
“We have got people that can stay at home and people that cannot stay at home. If we can help make sure people take the medication they need, that is what we can do.”
For more information on the initiative, call the AAA Motorcycle Training School on 07384746025 or visit their Facebook page.
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