Bikers held Easter egg run for Northampton children’s home and smashed previous record

A group of bikers recently hosted an Easter egg run to a Northampton children’s home and smashed their previous record by collecting and donating 867.

The King Billy Rock Bar, in Commercial Street, has been organising present runs for different organisations for nearly a decade and this was the best yet.

After the success of last year’s Christmas present run to Welford House, they decided to stick with them for their annual Easter egg run.

Last Sunday (April 2), the bikers started arriving at the pub from 10am when licensee Rachel Nash was making bacon rolls, tea and coffee.

An hour-and-a-half later, the 25 bikers set off in a procession – followed by three cars full of Easter eggs – to Welford House where they were met by the home’s staff and residents.

Duane Hendron, a long-standing customer at The King Billy for almost two decades, has been organising the Easter event for seven years.

He told the Chronicle & Echo: “Every egg matters but more importantly, the children do. Children’s homes often get missed when people do fundraising.”

The team was able to make this year’s event the biggest yet with the help of National Grid at Brackmills, Nobby the Sweep in Delapre, Metro Bank and Morrisons, amongst others who helped make a difference.

Rachel was pleased to see people who are not even customers stopping by to donate Easter eggs for the cause.

£70 was also taken out of the charity boxes on The King Billy’s bar and this was used to purchase more eggs ahead of the visit.

Upon arrival at Welford House, the bikers were met with tea, coffee and biscuits and they stayed for just short of an hour while the sweet treats were handed over.

The King Billy’s first Easter egg run was organised seven years ago when Duane’s friend Michael Hawkins, known better among the biker community as Thage, was diagnosed with cancer.

He wanted to do an Easter event and the team made that a reality, but he sadly passed away before the second one happened in 2017.

The King Billy has not been able to host the April event for the past two years because of the pandemic, so they were pleased to make this one the best yet.