Sidmouth store Fields donated £3,500 towards the new vehicle

Honiton-based charity Devon Freewheelers has thanked the staff and customers at Fields of Sidmouth for fundraising efforts that helped to buy a new bike.

The department store in Market Place donated £3,500 to the Honiton-based charity in 2013, when it was its charity of the year.

On Monday, members of staff met Devon Freewheelers founder and rider Dan Lavery, and were able to see the new bike for the first time since it was purchased.

It even boasts the Fields logo.

The money was raised through cake sales, raffles, quiz and sponsored events.

Customers also put their hands in their pockets by putting donations in tins in the shop.

Gill Day, of Devon Freewheelers, said: “We want to thank the staff and customers of Fields.

“We are always looking for new bikes as covering the cost of an old bike can be expensive.”

Devon Freewheelers operates a number of services including the transport of blood and organs as well as conducting visits to patients across North, East and South Devon and Plymouth.

The life-saving charity moved into Unit 5, in Durham Way, on Heathpark Industrial Estate in Honiton in 2013. For more information about the emergency biker charity, or to become volunteer for it, call 0300 880105 or send an email to gill.day@bloodbikes.org.