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Exciting news for the Hub |
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Drum roll please – we have some tremendous news that we can’t wait to share with you all. After a lot of hard work we a thrilled to announce that Yate Community Bike Hub is now a registered charity! While our charitable aims have been clear from the outset, having registered charity status will allow us to continue serving our community in the most sustainable and most widely recognised way. There are some practical and administrative steps to transfer the CIC to the new Charity structure and we are indebted to Trustees Adrian, Barrie, Keith, Nicola, Paul and Rebecca who will be giving their time to do this important behind the scenes work over the coming months. |
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In other fantastic news we have welcomed not one but two new members of staff to the Hub team this summer. We are thrilled to now have Stuart as our workshop support mechanic and Lexy as project coordinator. These are paid roles that support our volunteers and help make the Hub a sustainable venture for the long term. Read on for quick introductions to our new team members below.
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| Theo celebrates his first puncture repair! |
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| August is always a less predictable month, bringing a mix of extremely busy sessions and smatter of super quiet ones as families juggle holidays and summer child care. We hosted a very successful family friendly maintenance and practice sessions and had a great time supporting Yate’s first Youth Festival. Our volunteers have also had chance to try out the Dott e-bikes and scooters on the trial that has just reached our town – more on that below. |
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Coming up in September we have our final Rusty Riders sessions of the season (book your space on the 1st or 5th!) our Saturday Dr Bike on the 6th and our popular Brake themed maintenance session on the 16th. We also have a reprise of our Cycle to Parkrun collaboration on the 27th Sept with the A&S community police team offering bike marking again (08:00 – 10:30am at the Ridings, Chipping Sodbury) and free cake for runners and spectators who cycle to the event. |
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Love, peace and bicycle grease, Rebecca & the YCBH Core Team
Follow us! All our socials are listed here: YCBH linktree |
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| ————- Stop Press!———- there’s another happy milestone to report as we also received our 2000th donated bike at the last Saturday open hub of August. Thank you long-time friend of the Hub, Emma, for bringing in this little gem! |
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Introducing Stuart and Lexy our new team members! |
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| Stuart is a familiar face having volunteered for the Hub leading maintenance and practice sessions since 2022. He will be working Monday and Wednesday supporting our work experience placements for young people with additional needs in the mornings and volunteer mechanics in the afternoon open hub sessions.
Don’t worry he will continue to lead our popular evening maintenance courses too (don’t forget to sign up for this month’s brakes course using the link in the event list at the bottom of the newsletter!). You’ll also see him as our Dr Bike – we plan to keep him busy! |
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| Lexy will be joining us in September as our project coordinator for 3 days per week.
Lexy is a friend of the Hub having loaned our e-bike before and she joins us from the police service where she has excellent experience of keeping cool under pressure including organising a London to Paris bike ride.
Lexy will be taking over from volunteer Rebecca as the main point of contact / font of all knowledge for YCBH admin and Rebecca could not be more thrilled to have such a capable collaborator! |
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Looking for some motivation? Why not join cycle September? |
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| If you’re the sort of person that likes a sociable challenge why not participate in Love to Ride’s Cycle September? This global event encourages people to commit to cycle for 10 minutes or more and recruit their friends and colleagues to join them. |
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If you log your rides you could win prizes and earn badges as well as tracking your progress. There are also lots useful resources and inspirational stories on the Love to Ride website. Why not check out their short how-to courses on topics from fitting your helmet correctly to cycling in the rain? |
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Don’t get caught out by shorter days! |
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| The nights are drawing in but we don’t let that stop our cycling fun, we just use it as an excuse to get bright and stand out! Sustrans have a great resource on cycling in the dark https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/get-active/a-guide-to-cycling-in-the-dark/ Don’t forget the Hub has a stock of affordable safety essentials, including lights, bag covers, locks and helmets so pop in if you do need some extra illumination or advice. |
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| All the essentials – helmets, locks, bells and lights! |
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Fun at the Yate Youth Festival |
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Our brilliant team of volunteers turned out to support open hub and Yate’s first Youth Festival on Weds the 20th.
The event was reasonably well attended despite the iffy weather and we had loads of great conversations with young people while helping to get their bikes checked over. It was especially lovely that having had their bikes looked at by Dr Bike Mike, group of youngsters helped us to pack down by marching back to the shop with our kit in their arms!
As well a collaboration with local schools, we have run sessions for local scouts, guides and youth groups and we really love the opportunities to work with young people. We are excited that our Stronger Together grant success will allow us capacity to do more so watch this space! |
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Connor and Harry’s summer cycling adventure |
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We were impressed to hear from two Yate teens who have celebrated the end of their GCSE exams with a 380km cycle to Snowdon. Connor and Harry wrote to us about their adventure… |
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“We were mainly inspired by our Duke of Edinburgh Silver expedition where we hiked across the Brecon Beacons. We’d also cycled into Wales before but not far and so had the idea to cycle across Wales and camp along the way, similar to how you camp in different locations on DofE.”
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| “Our favourite parts were probably finally reaching the summit of Snowdon and cycling along the gospel pass on the first day (which is the highest road in Wales) because that was the first moment where we really saw some of the incredible views of the mountains.”
What’s your best cycling adventure? We’d love to hear from you! |
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| “We wanted to cycle through the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons and Harry suggested cycling to Snowdon because that would cover the full length of Wales and would be a cool end goal. Later we decided we’d climb it as well. “
The journey wasn’t without it’s challenges with steeply gravelled hills forcing the pair to push their laden bikes, a night where their tent flooded and their fair share of punctures. However there were also plenty of highlights. |
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Call for Host Organisations – Emergency Bike Repair Kits |
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Are you part of a business, school, community group or organisation that wants to lend a helping hand to your green travelling participants? |
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| The emergency bike repair kit |
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| If so you can apply to South Gloucestershire Council to host a free emergency bike repair kit and help keep cyclists on the move. These handy kits have a range of essential tools and equipment, such as a multi repair tool, pre-glued patches and inner tubes, tyre levers, a floor pump, and bike lights. They have been funded through the Climate and Nature Emergency Action Plan to support green travel. |
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 Each kit must be kept in a public place that is accessible to all to help promote cycling throughout South Gloucestershire. Successful organisations must agree to manage and maintain the kit, report any defects and monitor usage.
 Email travel.planning@southglos.gov.uk to find out how to apply. The deadline for applications is Monday 15 September.
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Final Rusty Riders Sessions! |
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Don’t miss out on our last Rusty Riders sessions of the year. The riders in August’s session were delighted with the FREE opportunity to level up their skills and you can join them!
This month’s dates are: Monday 1st September 18:30 (meeting at the Abbotswood Inn) Friday 5th September 10:30 (meeting at the Abbotswood Inn)
Book your space using the Eventbrite QR code below or follow this Rusty Riders link to book any session. |
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| “Just wanted to write to say how much K and I enjoyed the Rusty Riders session on Friday. It was both fun and informative, we especially liked the low speed manoeuvring around the cones. Made me realise that a tall, heavyish, e-bike is a bit harder to manoeuvre at slow speeds when trying to get round objects! Please say thanks to Karen and Adrian for running the course.” Happy Rusty Riders Participant
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| Micromobility for Yate!
Dott have extended the provision of e-bikes and e-scooters for hire to Yate and Sodbury. Volunteer Nicola popped down to their info event to find out more about the scheme to improve options for getting around without a car. You can find out how to register and get instruction on safe and responsible riding at Dott’s website https://ridedott.com/ride-with-us/
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1st September – Evening Rusty Riders skills session, Booking Link |
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| 5th September – Daytime Rusty Riders skills session, Booking Link |
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| 6th September – Saturday Dr Bike at the Hub 10.30-14.30 |
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| 9th September – Volunteers and Co-ordinators Meeting 7pm |
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| 16th September – “Brake it Down” Maintenance Course 7-8.30pm Booking Link |
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| 23rd September- Bike Maintenance Practice session 7-8.30pm Booking Link |
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| 27th September – Bike to Parkrun with police bike marking 8.30-10am at the Ridings |
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don’t forget to follow us on social media for more frequent updates! See linktree for all of our socials. |
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