Bikers' Pirate Run raises £500 to help cancer sufferer, 14
Aug 4 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post
Nathaniel Fletcher waves a skull & crossbone flag to start the 2nd annual Pirate bike run from Eastham Ferry around the Mersey Basin _320
MORE than 100 bikes roared through Merseyside behind a Skull and Crossbones flag yesterday.
The leather clad "petrolheads" revved up at about 12.30pm outside The Tap pub in Eastham, Wirral, for the second annual charity Pirate Run.
Dreadlocked organiser Lizzy Peatfield, of Speke, sporting a parrot on her back, said she was stunned at the turn-out.
The 45-mile cruise around the Mersey basin helps raise money and support for 14-year-old Nathaniel Fletcher, a family friend of Lizzy, who was diagnosed with clear cell sarcoma when he was 10 years old.
She said: "He was there waving the flag at the start and he managed to stay on for the whole run, so he was made up.
"He’s doing really well now and the last scan he had was clear, but we’d like to help other kids now.
"Although it’s quite a rare condition, there are lots of children suffering with it. We need to get more information about this particular type of cancer to help more people like Nathan."
Her plea to friends in the close-knit biker community in Merseyside got 29 riders out last year.
This year, 101 turned out and some travelled down from as far as Scotland.
Lizzy said: "It’s just fantastic the response we’ve had. One of them came down from Yorkshire on a 125 bike, and it took five hours on the back roads.
"Bikers are better known as Hell’s Angels and for being dangerous to know, but there is so much charity work we do."
Lizzy is also a regular on the Wirral Egg run, which raises money for children in local hospitals.
The route took the growling horde along the A41 past Shell Stanlow, via Helsby to Runcorn and then on to Liverpool.
The bike gang eventually wound up at the Swinging Arm pub in Birkenhead where Quake, a classic rock covers band led by a Quaker, provided entertainment.
More than £500 has been raised for the cause and, after stalling as she marshalled the gang of two-wheeled landlubbers, Lizzy said the event went well.
She is now expecting word to spread on the internet, making next year’s Pirate run even more hearty.
* MORE information about Nathaniel’s Fund is available by visiting his myspace page online, click here for more.
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