Regrettably we have decided to cancel the Christmas Social on Monday 13 December due to the prevalance of Covid.
Happy and safe Christmas everybody and we hope to get out on our bikes in the New Year
Arnold
Regrettably we have decided to cancel the Christmas Social on Monday 13 December due to the prevalance of Covid.
Happy and safe Christmas everybody and we hope to get out on our bikes in the New Year
Arnold
The beginning of the month saw a welcome return of the catch up meetings with the cycling Senior Project Officer of Newham Council. A list of borough wide cycling issues revised in the light of that meeting is here. Please get in touch if there are any issues (big or small) which you think are missing. It will help our infrastructure team ensure that they do not fall off the radar.
At short notice we attended a useful and positive discussion with the Royal Docks team who are preparing a walking and cycling strategy for the area. The success of this could have huge benefits for a large chunk of the borough.
We are hoping to resume our partnership work with the the children’s cycling clubs of the charity Ambition, Aspire, Achieve. This involves having a bike fixing/checking session one Saturday followed by a ride the next. If you would like to get involved in either or both of these activities please get in touch. You can then be included in the exercise of sorting out convenient dates.
Save the dates:
Arnold
Despite gathering gloom 12 of us made it for a ride down Quietway 6 and around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park where Jonathan explained developments, or lack of developments (as the case may be) at Temple Mills Lane, Abercrombie Rd, Northwall, Waterden Rd and Monier Rd Bridge and Westfield Avenue.
At a short meeting afterwards there were the following matters were discussed:
If you would like any further information on any of the above please get in touch with me.
Arnold
As we will not be having an August meeting this is a catch of of what has been happening and a preview of what is going on in September.
Our Fix your Ride facility has been in great demand. Whilst we were not able to do our usual Woodgrange Market stall this month we have been on the road with two sessions in the Royal Docks with Newham Wellness on 3 and 4 August, for a Sikh charity ride on 8 August (see picture) and with Dovetail on the Carpenters Estate on 20 August.
There is great demand for Fix your Ride. If you would like to help in fixing or simply advising on cycling in Newham let me know. Our normal Fix Your Ride service resumes at Woodgrange Market on 11 September and there will be a Further opportunity at the Ambition Aspire Achieve Charity Festival (to mark their 5 years and as a tribute to their founder Kevin Jenkins). We have been working with AAA for a number of years supporting their Children’s Cycle Club.
Our ride calendar has been disrupted by the pandemic but there will be a Newham Ride on 29 August – see events section.
Finally there are a number of important infrastructure developments.
Please get in touch if you would like more info on any of the above.
Arnold
On Saturday we were delighted to lead our first ever Pride Ride as part of the events of Forest Gayte Pride! Less than 10 miles of easy riding, but we managed to take in 4 historic LGBT venues in Stratford & Maryland as well as the only one still existing in the borough as we passed through the Olympic Park.
Numbers were a bit lower than hoped, as less than half of those who had booked actually turned up, but everyone who joined us – most of whom hadn’t ridden with us before -had a great time and the sun shone upon us!
Most riders really embraced the spirit – wearing rainbow colours (beautifully demonstrated by Steve and Anita!) and flags decorated our rider leader and all our marshals’ bikes.
Most of our route was on quiet roads – other than a small section on Romford Road and Woodgrange Road, where we were reminded of the lack of good infrastructure for cycling! However, we really enjoyed the majority of the ride which took us through LTNs and were a delight!
Pleasant weather for an evening ride from Canning Town through the Royal Docks Corridor and on to the Red Lion at East Ham. The purpose was to look at the route being currently consulted upon, which ends on 30 July. We have already fed in a detailed collective response (which can be provided on request) but individual responses are needed. The main issues that became apparent were:
There was a lot of catching up in the discussion afterwards:
If you would like further information on any of the above please get in touch.
Arnold
The monthly meeting which would have taken place on Monday 28 June has been cancelled. We had planned to combine an evening ride with a meeting but that is now difficult due to the extension of social distancing requirements.
Arnold
Click on the link to see all planned rides , these may be subject to change
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14gftfYp1EfFQP8eHzV8-HeIRndGf__n497F4almq-NQ/edit?usp=sharing
Richard Wadey provided a wide ranging overview of Newham Council’s progress in implementing its Cycle Strategy. Key points emerging from his presentation and follow up questions:
An invitation was extended to all to provide any infrastructure ideas which would be collated with our existing checklist and pursued at the resumption of catch up meetings with Council Officers.
John Morris was appointed Deputy Co-ordinator. He has a special interest in outreach.
In relation to events and partnerships:
Jonathan outlined positive developments in the QE Olympic Park where LLDC have appointed a expert sustainable transport officer.
Our rides programme is progressing and country lane rides are resuming. The number of no shows after booking has been disappointing.
We had been invited by the Council to attend a resumption of Traffic Management Liaison Meetings, where infrastructure developments would be discussed with official bodies such as ambulance and police.
Our programme of video’s of rides was continuing.
If you would like further information on any of the above please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Arnold