|
|
| | We made it to St David’s day and with it a bit more light and warmth it’s the perfect time for getting about on two wheels a bit more.
As well as running our usual open hub sessions, Dr Bike and Maintenance courses we’ve also been beavering away at the quiet work of Hub admin and have two big exciting updates to share with our supporters this month. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The first is our 2024 round up of all the key stats of the hub shared in infographic form below. This showcases the tremendous achievements of our volunteers and is a remarkable report for an organisation that is open less than 3 days per week! Thanks to the tremendous hard work of Phil our key database volunteer we have been able to transfer 95% of our paper records for bikes to a bespoke database making it a doddle to run our figures this year. |
|
The second super exciting update is that from mid March our amazing mechanic Adam will be working four days per week at the hub. Adam has been with us since last summer leading our work experience placements for young people with additional needs and delivering the Wheels 2 Work Scheme. His is the familiar face of our Saturday Dr Bike sessions and we are thrilled that he will be spending more time at the hub. |
|
|  | Dr Bike Adam, hard at work! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Speaking of Saturday sessions we are keen to hear from anyone who has some time to spare to help lend a hand on our busiest day. No experience necessary and there are lots of ways to help out, so we are sure to be able to find something that suits your talents and enthusiasm. If you are interested in joining us please pop into the shop or drop an email to yatecommunitybikehub@gmail.com.
This edition we also have an update on our Wheels2Work scheme, we celebrate our second successful Duke of Edinburgh award volunteer completing their hours. Following the publication of Sustran’s Children’s Walking and Cycling Index this week which shows that twice as many boys ride bikes as girls, we ask what our community could do to help women and girls to feel more included. We’d love to hear from anyone who wants to help us in this challenge.
Don’t forget to follow us on our socials to get your fix of stories from the team in between our newsletters. You can find all our socials in the link below. |
|
Love, peace and bicycle grease, Rebecca & the YCBH Core Team
Follow us! All our socials are listed here: YCBH linktree |
|
|
|
|
Bronze DofE placement success! |
|
Joe has successfully completed his volunteering hours at the Hub to contribute towards his bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. Joe came along to the Hub first on one of our maintenance courses and proved himself to be a hardworking, enthusiastic and capable member of the Saturday team (along with Mum Tracy!). Here’s what he had to say about his time with us.
|
|
|  | Joe on the maintenance course |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“I helped out at the bike hub for an hour every Saturday for 3 months for the volunteering section of my Bronze DofE. I found it was an amazing place and everyone was very kind and helpful. During my time here I learnt many valuable skills about how bikes work and how to look after them, and how the hub can help our community get on their bikes. It is definitely the best place I could have done my DofE and I hope to come back again for my silver award.“ |
|
|
 |
|
|
 | Stu will use his bike to commute to work for the NHS in Bristol |
|
| We are please to share the success of our Wheels2Work scheme which launched in January in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council.
In just eight weeks we have provided 14 bikes to people in need through the scheme and have a further 10 in preparation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One huge bonus of the way the Community Bike Hub is run is that we are able to go above and beyond the scheme limits to provide a bike meaning that no-one misses out. For example when a refugee family with four siblings one of whom was too young for the scheme but at 14 still needed a bike to get to school, we could step in an make sure they got wheels too.
|
|
|
Survey shows 51% of kids want to cycle more |
|  |
| | This week Sustran’s published their Children’s Walking and Cycling Index which shows that while 48% of children cycle at least once a week, boys cycle twice as much as girls. Safety and social acceptability highlighted as key factors that deter girls from getting on their bikes. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We know that enabling cycling for young people brings independence and reduces the financial and time burdens on their families, but the voices of young people are often not heard in conversations about the future of their towns. If you want to see safer, more equitable ways to get around why not join the local Active Travel Forum. The next meeting will be 28th April 2025 at 7pm via Zoom – please email Yate Town Council (who host the meetings) for an invitation. |
|
|
|
This month sees International Women’s Day celebrations across the globe and the Hub team have been thinking about how we could support more women to be involved in the Hub and local cycling community. While we have a 50% female directors group and c.25% attendance at our maintenance courses, overwhelmingly our volunteer base is male and the barriers to women both riding and getting involved with cycling projects are notable (https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/campaigns-guide/women-cycling). |
|
We’d like to run some events through the Hub this year that might help to make our community more inclusive and diverse, starting with women but also looking to support other minorities that are underrepresented generally in cycling projects. |
|
Many minds are better than one so we’d want to hear what you would like to see the Hub do to better support and include women in our cycling and volunteering community? We’ve listed some suggestions here, but please drop Rebecca a line if you are interested and would like to be involved or have suggestions to add to the list!
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
11th March – Volunteers and Co-ordinators Meeting 19:00 ALL WELCOME! |
| 18th March – Intermediate Gears Maintenance course 7-8.30pm Booking Link |
| 22nd March – Saturday Dr Bike 10:30-14:30 |
| 25th March – Bike Maintenance Practice sessions 7-8.30pm Booking Link |
| | | 5th April – Tour De Bristol, cycle one of three beautiful routes through South Glos countryside (or make up your own virtual challenge) in aid of St Peter’s hospice |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
don’t forget to follow us on social media for more frequent updates! See linktree for all of our socials. |
|
|
|
