Product Description
Collins Big Cat - Mairi's Motorbike: Band 16/Sapphire
Author(s): Lynne Rickards, Illustrated by Eugene Smith, Prepared for publication by Collins Big Cat
Format: Physical Hardcopy
Mairi Chisholm was a Scottish motorbike rider who volunteered for the Women’s Emergency Corps during the First World War. Discover how she became one of the famous “Angels of Pervyse”.
Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children's sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically. Text type: A biography Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.
Lynne Rickards was fascinated by the story of Mairi Chisholm, a teenage motorcycle enthusiast who was only 18 when war was declared in 1914. Instead of retreating to the safety of her privileged life as a wealthy debutante, Mairi and her best friend Elsie Knocker rode their motorbikes to London and volunteered as Women’s Auxiliary dispatch drivers.
Soon spotted as a fearless and skilful driver, Mairi was recruited to join Dr Hector Munro’s Flying Ambulance Corps, and she and Elsie spent most of the war on the Western Front retrieving wounded soldiers from the battlefields and patching them up, saving over 1,000 lives. Lynne couldn’t help but be inspired by this amazing young woman, and was thrilled to have a chance to share her story in Mairi’s Motorbike.
For custom orders and quotes: shop@schoolspace.co.za
© 2026 Schoolspace. This product description is the exclusive intellectual property of SA School and Office Supplies (Pty) Ltd, protected under copyright law. Unauthorized use, adaption, or copying is strictly prohibited.
