BIG-HEARTED bikers brought smiles to the faces of poorly youngsters by delivering dozens of Easter eggs to Oxford Children’s Hospital.

Youngsters watched out of the windows as about 50 bikers roared up to the hospital in convoy yesterday carrying piles of chocolate on their annual Easter Egg Run.

Many children came down from their wards to meet the riders and admire their bikes.

Nine-year-old Bethany Povey, of Springfield Road, Wantage, who is being treated for leukaemia, was invited to sit on one of the bikes.

She said: “The bikes are really cool. It was really exciting.”

Her dad Stuart Povey, 40, added: “Bethany really appreciates it, as do all the kids and the nurses themselves. It is the fact they are willing to give up their free time for such a worthwhile cause.

“It makes the children feel special. It does lift them to see friendly faces — it really does pick them up.”

Biker Steve Harding, 58, of Berinsfield, said the group, known as the H Riders, had met at H Cafe in Oxford Road, Berinsfield, and ridden in convoy to the hospital.

Mr Harding said: “This is our third year of doing it. We make their lives a little bit happier. When you see them smile it is lovely — especially when they look down from the windows and they see the whole group of bikes come in.”

Fellow biker Peter Lister, 52, from Jericho, said: “It takes their minds off things when they see these noisy bikers turning up.”

George Jones-White, from Reading, came to the hospital after breaking his arm falling off some play equipment.

The 11-year-old said: “The bikes are cool and I wish I had one. This has cheered me up.”

Flo Mantell, four, from Chipping Norton, took a break from treatment for leukaemia to sit on one of the bikes. She said: “They are good and I like Easter eggs.”

Jordan Clark, 12, from Maidenhead, who has had 14 operations on his legs in the past three weeks, was the first patient to greet the bikers.

His dad Tony Clark, 44, said: “When he heard they were here he was straight in his wheelchair.”

Christine Turner, senior play specialist at the hospital, said: “It means a lot to them, you could see that by the amount of children who came down and how they enjoyed sitting on the bikes.

“It is nice for them to know there are people thinking of them.”

esimmonds@oxfordmail.co.uk