Money is continuing to pour in to our Medibike Appeal.

Last month, the Oxford Mail announced that generous readers had raised £15,000 to pay for a Suzuki Hayabusa - the fastest bike on the road.

We gave the money to cash-strapped Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust, which could not afford a Medibike.

But dedicated readers have pledged to continue to raise money to keep the bike on the road. Prison officer Mark Pidgeon worked hard to raise nearly £900 for the fund. He organised a rock night at the prison's social club, where bands from Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, including Superhead Seven, Fast Forward, Hyper Vyper and The Cadillacs, performed. A sound system was loaned by The Music Box, in Cowley Road.

Mark, who is based at Bullingdon Prison, near Bicester, said: "I knew the appeal had reached its target when I started organising the event but wanted to raise the money because I know there will be a lot of extra costs further down the road."

The money will go towards the £3,000 cost of training a third paramedic, Barry Pritchard, to ride the bike.

Paramedics Eddy Webb and Simon Holbrook are already being trained at the Police Traffic Motorcycle Unit. Their training is due to be completed in less than two weeks. Medibike project manager David Banham said: "While Oxford Mail readers have been incredibly generous in donating a phenomenal amount so far, we are asking them to continue to support the appeal. We want to train as many riders as we can so the bike is used to its maximum potential."

The machine will mean paramedics can reach the scene of an emergency within just minutes of receiving a 999 call in the Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust control room.

*Anyone who would like to donate money should send cheques, made payable to Oxfordshire Ambulance NHS Trust Charitable Fund, to the Promotions Department, Oxford Mail, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 OEJ.

Story date: Saturday 08 April

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.