The National Motorcycle Museum launches COVID-19 fundraiser

THE National Motorcycle Museum (NMM) has launched a fundraising appeal to help keep the UK’s premier motorcycle museum afloat post-COVID-19.

With many motorcycle celebrities and organizations turning to fundraising events to help secure cash for charities and the NHS, the NMM literally needs the public’s help to keep the doors of the iconic venue open.

To try and raise the funds, the museum is holding a classic motorcycle raffle, with some iconic British bikes up for grabs.

First prize is an immaculate 1977 Norton Commando 850cc, second prize is a 1948 Ariel NG 350cc, and third prize is a 1959 BSA B31 350cc. Each bike, as you’d expect, is in museum quality condition, having been lovingly cared for by the museum for a number of years.

A statement from the NMM said:

“Many visitors will not realise that the National Motorcycle Museum receives no external funding whatsoever. This means that, not only do we rely on visitors to the museum, but mainly on the income from our conference business and two sister hotels. Everyone knows that hospitality and leisure have been one of the worst hit sectors, and we don’t know when our National Conference Centre, Manor Hotel Meriden and Windmill Village Hotel Coventry will be able to reopen fully, let alone trade profitably.”

Museum Director James Hewing explained further:

“The museum itself requires a surplus of around £500,000 per year just to break even. Without making this appeal, we may have to sell some of our reserve collection of bikes - the last thing we would ever have wanted to do. Unfortunately, all of our business activities are in one of the hardest hit sectors, and we simply don’t know how long they will take to recover”.

National Motorcycle Museum raffle entry instructions

Tickets are £6 each and will go on sale on July 17. They can be bought through the NMM’s website (found here), where you can donate directly to the reopening appeal fund.