Heavy Metal Truants raise £73,000 for charity

Last night, Heavy Metal Truants — the Heavy Metal Charity Bicycle Club — presented a cheque from £73,000 to representatives from Nordoff Robbins, Teenage Cancer Trust, and Childline.

The presentation took place at London’s infamous Crobar, co-owned by one of the Heavy Metal Truants, Steve Horne, while the money was raised via a 161-mile charity bike ride from London to Download Festival, the TeamRock Monster Rock Auction, and a charity raffle held at the Big Red bar in Holloway, North London.

“The people at Nordoff Robbins, Teenage Cancer Trust, and Childline really deserve medals for the incredible work that they do,” says Alexander Milas, TeamRock’s Editor-in-Chief and leading Truant. “We figured £73,000 would be a little more useful. This amount is the product of so much hard work: from the riders who tested their mettle on the hills to Castle Donington, to the industry figures whose outpouring of support took my breath away, to the fans who stepped forward and bid so generously for our auction. This has been a tremendous adventure, and we really can’t wait to do it all again. Huge thanks to our sponsors, the riders, and everyone who backed this crazy idea. We will be back next year, and we want you to join us. Watch this space!”

Also in attendance at the presentation were Iron Maiden Manager and Heavy Metal Truants co-founder Rod Sallwood, Dave Silver (of Savage Messiah), Aaron Aedy (of Paradise Lost), TeamRock CEO Billy Anderson, and Gizz Butt from The More I See and English Dogs.

Pic: Will Ireland

For more information about the Heavy Metal Truants, the charities, and how you can join, head to heavymetaltruants.com

Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.