Mechanics give Grace House a kickstart with classic bike rally

Steve Milner, centre, and fellow moped riders who will ride from Castletown to Barnard Castle to raise funds for Grace House.

Around 30 workers from garages across Sunderland will take part in the event on Saturday, May 20, when they will leave North East Motor Repairs in Castletown and head to Barnard Castle in a fancy dress run.

They will ride their classic mopeds, bikes and trikes through the city centre before stopping at Seaham, then travelling through Murton, Hetton and then to Durham Services for another break, before they head to Bishop Auckland to pause for the last time before heading to the Teesdale town.

Steve Milner gives his moped a whirl ahead of the rally.

They will then tour its pubs on a stopover for the night and return home the next day.

They will collect donations at each stop as they raise funds for the Wearside respite centre.

The event has been organised for the third year running by Steve Milner, of the Castletown business.

He will be joined by workers from Main Road Gararge on Riverside Road, Herrington Burn, Alexandra Bridge Coachworks and Scotts Bank at Southwick.

Steve said: “Grace House needs all the help it can get and we want to do our bit.

“It’s all friends getting together and we have a laugh and it’s good fun.

“We’ll try and get as much as we can for the charity as we go.

“When we started off, it was just classic mopeds, 50ccs, and half of them would breakdown about four or five times, but we’d give them a little kick and they’d be away again.

“Some started bringing along 125cc bikes and then people wanted to bring their trikes, but it’s all to raise money for the kids.”