'A day she'll never forget': Bikers make ill Black Country girl's birthday wish come true with special delivery of hundreds of hats
It was hats off to a Bloxwich youngster who celebrated her seventh birthday with family and plenty of new friends who helped make her unusual wish come true.
Hat fan Winnie Beau-Sutton is living with leukaemia and her family wanted to do something special for her seventh birthday: when they asked her what she wanted, she requested 100 hats to be delivered to the family's Bloxwich home to brighten up the day.
Family member Emma McCandless is the partner of Simon Hammond, a member of a Halesowen-based Outlaws MC biker group, and helped arrange for the group to deliver the hats, along with around £1,000 worth of other birthday presents for the excited youngster.
The convoy, featuring bikes and trikes of all makes and models, set off from Halesowen town centre yesterday lunchtime (March 14) for the 15-mile journey to Bloxwich, where people turned out to welcome them in their droves.
In total 165 bikes were counted and 255 hats, with some having already been donated to Winnie from wellwishers - the final total is expected to be around 600.
The family said Winnie was delighted with the hats and called the bikes "cool" whilst youngsters from the family and the street got to sit on the machines and have pictures taken.
Emma said: "Everyone came together as a community and Winnie will look back on this and know she was loved and thought of, it is something she will never forget.
"We had riders come from outside of the Outlaws group including one from Mansfield; they all came together to make it a special day and we thank them all."
Winnie's mother Lauren Deeming said the kindness of people had been overwhelming and the day had been "unforgettable". She thanked members of the Outlaws MC group for the delivery.
Simon said: "When we heard about Winnie's wish through Emma we went into action and raised money not only for the hats but also her other birthday presents, and other groups have helped with it. It just shows what can be done when people get together.
"We do quite a bit charity- and fundraising-wise and always try to help people when we can - hopefully we and others gave Winnie a day she will never forget."
