WMCC & the fossils charity run
About
The Fossils Charity Bike Run is a long-established bike run in the motorcycling calendar the proceeds of which are donated to our nominated club charities. Originally an all-classic motorcycle event, the run now caters for every type of motorcycle with entries from 2 and 3 wheels – classic and modern.
The modern event follows the same format of a friendly gathering of bike enthusiasts before the event followed by a ride through the Hampshire / West Sussex countryside with prizes awarded for the various classes voted for by the riders and a panel of expert judges.
The event regularly attracts over 150 riders and over the years, WMCC has helped raise circa £58,000 for nominated charities. For 2025 these are SERV Wessex, The Blood Runners, (Charity number 1156383) and The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, (Charity number 1106234) both of whom are closely connected with motorcycling and motorcyclists.
Fossils Story
The origins of the Fossils is as the successor to the Gales Run which ran from George Gales Brewery in Horndean and was organised by Tony East owner of ARE Car Factors. The event ran from the Drayman’s yard opposite the brewery and was well supported by the classic fraternity.
Following the announcement that the event was to end, WMCC Club Vice President Mick Bowley approached the organisers and offered for the club to continue the event. The Brewery decided that with numbers swelling, the venue was getting too small and as WMCC have enjoyed a long association with Horndean Technology College, the college agreed to allow us to hold the event there.
The event was then rebranded to reuse an old club trophy and renamed ‘The Old Fossils’ reflecting the nature of the event at that time. In recent years the Charity Run has been renamed 'The Fossils'.
Please see the links below giving an insight to previous Fossils Charity Runs - with thanks to Euan Bentley (youtuber) for the video productions:
our 2025 charities
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance
2024 Presentation & Letter of thanks
We are once again humbled by the support shown year on year by WMCC. Thank you to every member who played a part in raising funds, whether you bought a burger at Fossils, put some coins in a pot, or sourced sponsors for the event. I had a stark reminder of the importance of the air ambulance this week, when a life-threatening assault occurred outside my house in Portsmouth. Thanks to you and other supporters, the crew landed via helicopter and gave the victim a fighting chance. Patients and their families rely on your support, now more than ever. Your latest gift will cut emergency response times to Waterlooville, from 17 minutes to just 8. Some patients cannot hold on for 17 minutes. Thanks to you, we’re now a third of the way towards the life-saving move to Southampton Airport. With your continued support, we aim to be operating there this time next year.
SERV Wessex, The Blood Runners
2024 Presentation & Letter of thanks
On behalf of SERV Wessex I would like to thank everyone within your club for donating £1500. I am truly humbled by your continued & ongoing support, and we look forward to supporting WMCC in future events, when we can, & look forward to the 20th Fossils Run later this year. During 2024 we had over 2000 requests to move products from our hospitals. We carried 277 boxes of Human Donated Breast Milk from donor mums to Neo Natal units for premature babies. Doing these requests 128,000 miles were covered by our volunteers, of which 33,000 miles were done just replenishing the fresh blood carried on the Hampshire Air Ambulance, which involved moving 1100 boxes. Your donation will mean our volunteers can cover 6,250 miles at no cost to themselves. The majority of these requests are done at night and at no cost to the NHS. Thank you one & all, Tim Bennett SERV WESSEX
With many thanks to our 2024 Sponsors
Sponsorships for last year covered all the costs of running the event, which meant every penny that was raised through entries went to our charities.