• Web: www.runningthestandard.uk
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/runningthestandard
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/runningthestandard

From 26th June to 9th July 2021, Matt and Sue Merry (son and mum) will ride their motorbikes through every county in Great Britain carrying a miniature Royal British Legion (RBL) Riders Branch Standard.

• 3,000 miles
• 80 counties
• 3 countries
• 1 Standard

The Riders Branch is the motorcycle branch of the RBL and the event was designed to enable as many Riders as possible to join in celebrating the 100th year of the formation of the RBL: whether that is to join us for one leg (county to county), a few miles, or multiple legs. The event is called:

        ‘Running the Standard’.

We hope that members of the wider RBL community will join us at the end of each day and maybe wave us off in the mornings.

The start location will be at Crownhill Fort in Plymouth. We are hoping to have a few events along the way so, again, please keep an eye on our website and social media pages. On the final day there will be a service of Remembrance at the grave of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, who set up the charity now known as the Poppy Appeal. Branch members will then ride the Standard into their National Rally in the north east.

The idea for ‘Running the Standard’ was conceived by us (Matt and Sue) on a car journey back from an Riders Branch committee meeting. There were several things that we considered:

• Accessibility: It had to be accessible to as many members as possible.
• A good ride out: It had to be a motorcycle ride – after all, we are the The Riders Branch!
• Completable: The ride must be challenging yet we must be able to achieve our goal.
• The journey: We hope and get to some of the best views in the UK (even if it’s raining!).

Originally we had no intention of raising money, it was all to be about the ride and the Riders. Due to covid and our awareness that the Poppy Appeal has a short-fall of more than 21 million pounds (as in-person fundraising had been cancelled for the first time in the organisation’s 99-year history) we felt the least we should do is set up this page.

The ride details will be on our website and social media sites soon and we hope that some of you will join us along the way and at our evening stops. If you are considering joining us, please keep checking just in case we have to make changes.

Obviously all this is hopeful that restrictions due to covid don't stop us. If the ride is cancelled then we will reschedule, if restrictions mean we are unable to ride into Wales or Scotland then we will try to find another route around, however, please donate if you can. 

Thank you for celebrating with us and supporting the Poppy Appeal.