Blood Bike Idris
Yamaha FJR 1300. Funded by Idris Morgan, Ice cream man
Idris John Pritchard Morgan, known to many as “Mr Whippy” ran Iddy’s Ices from 2005, and was a familiar face around Whitchurch and North Shropshire for his unusual ice cream creations and his unique ice cream van jingles that for many years announced his arrival.
Born in Oswestry where his family still lives, Idris was the regular ice cream man at the Raven Café, and an honorary member of the Raven Rider’s group, where he would generously donate 20 per cent of the profits he made when he attended the clubs weekly meetings to Shropshire and Staffordshire Blood Bikes.
Idris Morgan very sadly passed away unexpectedly in June 2015, leaving friends family and the local community in shock.
Former Mayor of Whitchurch, Cllr Rob Hewson, paid tribute, praising him for his contributions to local events: “He was a great man and was great with the children, he looked after them; I’ve even known him give children ice creams for free when they had no money – he was credit to his profession.”
In the weeks that followed several memorial fundraising events were held in memory of this lovely man, including “The Whippy Cup” 5 a side football competition, with an amazing £2000 being raised in total, which in keeping with Idris’s previous donations was generously donated to SSCBB.
A few months later we purchased a Yamaha FJR blood bike, and it was decided the best way we could honour this great man would be by naming this new bike “Idris”.
Speaking on the anniversary of Idris’s death, his niece, Sarah recently told us “He was a kind man with a heart of gold and a wicked sense of humour. Idris would be so incredibly proud to have a blood bike named after him and it is a comfort for us to know that in some way he is still making a real difference to people’s lives”.
We send our best wishes to the Morgan family from everyone at SSCBB. Blood bike Idris is currently based in Staffordshire, and has made many deliveries in the region, saving lives on a daily basis.
What people say about us
“The blood bikes are vital to getting our life saving faecal transplants to critically ill patients with C. dificile infection”
Professor Peter Hawkey, FMT Service Lead, PHE Public Health Laboratory Birmingham
“On a regular basis we need to transport samples urgently, between Shrewsbury and Telford, and also from here in Shropshire to Birmingham and beyond. In the past it has been quite difficult, out of hours, to get those samples moving quickly, so it has made a huge difference to us to be able to rely on blood bikes to get those samples moving for us.”
Debbie Jones, Support Services Care Group Director Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
“The voluntary service the blood bikes offer us has been instrumental in widening the scope of our FMT service across the country and ensuring costs are a low as possible for the NHS”
Dr Vicki McCune, FMT Service Manager PHE Public Health Laboratory Birmingham
“There is certainly times when the quicker we can get results back, the better the outcome for the patient, so blood bikes are helping to save lives and, at the same time, they are saving the NHS lots of money”
Debbie Jones, Support Services Care Group Director Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
“We are so grateful to the volunteer riders who give up their time to courier blood products and urgent samples for testing between our hospitals and the regional NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) centre in Birmingham. Every minute counts when it comes to helping seriously-ill and injured patients and being able to call on the blood bikes round the clock helps us to provide safe, effective treatment and transfusions.”
Paula Gardener, Chief Nurse Burton Hospital Trust (covering Burton, Lichfield and Tamworth)
“We very much appreciate all of their efforts and the support they give both SaTH and the wider NHS.”
Debbie Jones, Support Services Care Group Director Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
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