BMW 3 "Andy yw an Gwella"

There are a very special group of gentlemen who are dear to our hearts here at Cornwall Blood Bikes; Oll an Gwella (meaning “All the Best” in Cornish) has evolved into an entertaining, rehearsed, a cappella male chorus. All members of Newquay Male Voice Choir, the (up to 11-man) group has a choral repertoire of over 100 songs including shanties, Cornish folk, 1960s classics plus seasonal & sacred music.

They entertain for pleasure and raise thousands of pounds for charity including voluntary, charity and community groups.

Cornwall Blood Bikes were fortunate enough to have been a nominated charity of Oll an Gwella’s performing & fundraising in all locations across Cornwall raising outstanding amounts of nearly £20,000 over a number of years to enable us to keep our fleet bikes on the road.

CBB volunteers have always had the most wonderful time supporting this band of beauties, and as our way of thanking them approached them in September 2018 and invited the group to name the latest CBB Fleet bike to be brought into service.

Oll an Gwella had decided to acknowledge the inspirational fight that Andy Pappin (tenor singing member of the group) had shown as he had worked to overcome both the effects of a life-changing road traffic accident and an aggressive form of cancer.

Andy sadly passed away earlier last year and, as a tribute to his memory the new bike was named “Andy yw an Gwella” which means “Andy, is the best”. Cornwall Blood Bikes are extremely privileged that one of Andy’s first and final performances back together as a group, was in front of the CBB stand at The Royal Cornwall Show, which was incredibly special.

So in the September of 2018 at Newquay Beer festival the bike was named and was welcomed into our fleet serving the people of Cornwall.

However on the 18th July 2019 one of our volunteer riders was unfortunately involved in a road traffic collision. Thankfully our rider was unhurt, but BMW 3 our “Andy yw an Gwella “ was a complete write off.

Machinery is replaceable but our volunteers are priceless, and our rider was extremely lucky so someone was looking after him and we would like to believe that “Andy” was doing his job.

Oll an Gwella have held a variety of events over the summer of 2019 in aid of CBB and were ending their season on a warm August evening at The Tinners Arms, Zennor.

As always our volunteers Jayne, John, and Brian turned out to support them, but so did our advanced fleet rider Dave Trudgeon (Mr T) accompanied by a very special surprise guest – a new to us BMW R 1200 RTP obtained from our fellow blood bike group all liveried up proudly bearing BMW 3 “Andy yw an Gwella”.

Kevin (Andy’s brother) was also present, and as these Cornish beauties gathered around the bike once again we have to admit it was a little emotional. Andy spent his entire life doing what he could to help people, and giving back to the community and was also a keen biker..

All the volunteers at CBB are so delighted that “Andy yw an Gwella” is once again a member of our fleet operational across Cornwall, in turn serving the people, hospitals and hospices at the heart of our community and Andy’s memory will continue to live on.