Somerset & Avon May to August 2026

It’s been a busy few months here at DocBike Somerset & Avon since our last news update, so we’ve amalgamated everything into one post.

Over the past few months, we’ve met many, many riders, handed out hundreds of CRASH Cards and helped upskill riders and members of the community. We’ve also continued working closely with the ambulance service, other emergency services and our fellow DocBike regions.

Ben and Adam represented DocBike UK at the Bournemouth University Pre-Hospital Care Conference, delivering education and practical scenarios to pre-hospital students, predominantly student paramedics. It was a great day and the sessions were really well received. They were also joined by speakers from BASICS and DSAA, making for a fantastic day of shared learning.

Brett, Elaine and Dan attended Riders of Bridgwater (Ducati) for their first bike night of the year. The team had a great evening, with a fantastic BBQ provided by the local HOG group. An excellent range of bikes turned up, and there was some great engagement with the riders throughout the evening.

We hosted our first NextGen Riders course in Somerset & Avon. Not only was this our first time running the event in the region, but it was also a first for the charity in delivering the session over one day rather than two, which is now the standard format. We had some extremely hot weather, but despite the temperatures, everyone taking part and volunteering to run the course had a great day.

Ben popped along to one of our local bike nights at Tuckers Grave Inn. This was the first time both Ben and DocBike had attended this particular bike night. It’s a great location, with brilliant attendance and a fantastic mix of bikes. Ben spent the evening wandering around, chatting to attendees about their bikes and the charity’s work, while also handing out CRASH Cards.

Ben, Brett, Elaine, Garth and Christa visited Dick Lovett Motorrad in Bristol for their BMW Demo Day. It was great to see all the new bikes heading out on test rides, as well as having the opportunity to chat to riders popping in for their demo rides.

June 2026

We were invited to Airbus in Filton for their Cars & Coffee event. Brett and Garth attended alongside Linda, and a good afternoon was had by all. A selection of classic motorcycles turned up amongst the classic cars, and there was plenty of good coffee on tap!

We ran another CPD session for SWAST in Bridgwater. The evening was fully booked and provided plenty of great clinical conversation. It gave clinicians the opportunity to better understand the mechanisms involved in motorcycle collisions, while also refreshing the trauma skills required to manage these patients.

We attended the annual Helmet City Cheddar Open Day. It was a brilliant day and, as always, a very well-attended event. We had great fun engaging with everyone who came along, talking about who we are as a charity, what we do and how we can help riders and the wider motorcycle community.

We set up at the seaside for the weekly Weston-super-Mare Bike Night. It was a great evening in the setting sun on the coast, with around 400 bikes attending. We teamed up with the local defibrillator group in Weston-super-Mare to help provide vital lifesaving skills to members of the community, should they ever find themselves first on scene at a cardiac arrest.

We crossed borders to help DocBike Dorset deliver a CPD session to a group of Community First Responders at St Leonards Ambulance Training Centre. It was a brilliant couple of hours, helping these volunteers understand motorcycle collisions and how they may need to manage an injured motorcyclist should they come across or be dispatched to an incident.

We were approached by a local village to help them with some casualty care training. Being situated on a popular motorcycling route, we took the opportunity to deliver not only CPR and AED training, but also guidance on how to manage a motorcyclist before the emergency services arrive on scene. We had a brilliant evening delivering these vital skills, with everyone leaving feeling more confident in managing a patient, whether that was following a motorcycle collision or in the event of a cardiac arrest.

We attended the Vintage Motorcycle Club Scatter Rally in Wiltshire. Riders were all given a What3Words code and had to travel to the location to find the answer to a question. We were based at the start and finish, where we met lots of riders and had a chat about their riding day and the different sights of Wiltshire they had visited.

We also assisted DocBike Hampshire at Wallop Wings & Wheels. This was an event we had previously attended due to our military connections, but with the Hampshire region now established, we were pleased to be able to support them at this brilliant event.

We attended Calne Bike Meet, one of Europe’s largest bike meets, held annually in June. It was a non-stop day, meeting riders from all over the country and even some from abroad who had travelled specifically to attend. It’s highly recommended if you haven’t already put it on your calendar!

We attended the NG Road Racing weekend at Castle Combe Circuit, spending two days at the event engaging with riders and enjoying being in such close proximity to the track. We were able to watch some of the racing and were also joined on the Sunday by the BikeSafe team from Wiltshire. We even got to meet Steve Parrish!

We attended an event hosted by the Avon & Somerset Police Neighbourhood Team in Taunton. The event focused on motorcycle security and how riders can upskill themselves. We attended alongside Somerset Road Safety, Grahams Motorcycles, where the event was held, Blood Bikes and various other motorcycle organisations.

We ran another successful CPD course for SWAST clinicians, again in Bridgwater. As always, it was another brilliant evening, with great clinical engagement across the board and some fantastic feedback from those attending.

We joined forces once again with DocBike Hampshire at the IAM RoadSmart Young Rider and Driver Skills Days. The DocBike element focused on casualty care at the roadside and how participants could keep themselves safe should they come across an incident. We had a brilliant couple of days at Thruxton Circuit, with participants also getting to grips with their own vehicles across a variety of skills areas during the day.

We attended the Wiltshire Motorbike Rally in Berwick. Despite a hot weekend, we had a great time talking with riders at the event about CRASH Cards and the different ways they can upskill themselves and develop their knowledge.

It’s been a fantastic few months for the Somerset & Avon team, and we’re incredibly grateful to everyone who has taken the time to speak to us, get involved with our courses, take a CRASH Card or support DocBike at the events we’ve attended.

There’s plenty more to come, so keep an eye out for where we’ll be next!