It is time to ditch the pride, and humbly as the community for help.
Sadly, after eight years of hard work all over the UK, our show stand has died a death from age and wear. It was our first, and was a used item when we bought it, and it has done well. I have self funded since 2017, with small donations from some regular supporters to help recoup some of the costs of the website and so on. With the website having to be redeveloped from scratch, the truck needing replacement and the show stand being unsalvageable, it has all come at once! I currently have too high expenditure this year to cover it all, and if I don’t get something organised soon, I won’t be getting to the shows this year.
We have never made any money from what we do, and that may need looking at going forward – we ethically pass that on in discounts, so everything is down to me to provide, and making money work hard is something I have always been fairly good at.
We are now appealing for help in funding a replacement Show Stand/Gazebo to allow our presence at shows to continue. Our stand is important to us, it allows us to attend shows, events and bike nights to give advice on motorcycle security and offer support for victims. We attend these shows & Events with the Community, Industry Experts and Police and it is a vital part of getting our message out that we are hear to support the motorcycle community, to build relations with Police so that they can see the problems we are living with in the community and to support those affected by motorcycle theft and associated crime.
Asking for donations, is not something I am used to doing, but I have to accept I cannot do this without a little help
If anyone reading this is in the industry, please contact us if you can help. Making every penny go as far as it can is the aim of the game, especially when we are dealing with donations offered by the community. We should be able to procure a basic, commercial grade gazebo of the same size for around £1000, hopefully less if we can manage that. We are not asking for any printed stands, as these are too expensive – just a basic, commercial grade replacement for what we had.
I understand times are hard, and please do not feel obliged – but if you can afford to make a donation, even the price of a coffee, it would be appreciated and would be going to a good cause, doing good things to reduce motorcycle crime.
We are thankful for any help
UKBTA Team
