Cycling Minds February 2022 newsletter

A message from our founder, Toby

Northumberland has just been named by The New York Times as the fourth best place in the world where visitors can be part of the solution to problems like over-tourism and climate change, and of course Cycling Minds is proud to say we will now be part of that solution.

The New York Times Travel desk published its annual “52 Places” list, and Northumberland caught their eye because of its dark skies and pristine beaches along the newly opened 44-mile stretch of the England Coast Path running from the River Tyne up the Northumberland coast. In its summary of Northumberland’s riches, the New York Times also mentioned the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park with some of the lowest light pollution in the country and one of the largest areas of protected night sky in Europe, as well as Hadrian’s Wall,  which is celebrating its 1,900th anniversary with a year-long festival this year.

The Cycling Minds Just Do It rides programme for our young beneficiaries will not only give them a chance to get some exercise and socialise but also introduce them to some of the natural, cultural and historical riches our county has to offer. We can’t wait to get started as we come out of winter.

Funding frenzy

February was the month when all our efforts applying for grants in November and December really paid off. We were awarded funding by Northumberland National Park Authority, the Blackett Family Community First Fund, the Northumberland VCSE Alliance, Karbon Homes, Sport England (through Cycling UK) and The National Lottery Community Fund.

Their support means we have the funds needed to buy all the e-bikes, workshop tools and equipment, staff uniforms and other items we need to get up and riding. We have also covered most of our Year 1 administrative and IT, insurance, training and even some salary costs, so we couldn’t be happier with how things have gone.

In fact, our fundraising success rate has been 80%, which compares extremely favourably to the average in the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise sector of just 20%, underlining the value of our project.

Crucially, we have also secured some funding for core costs to partially cover the General Manager’s salary and a part-time mechanic as from Month 3. This will enable us to open the workshop more hours, have more slots for volunteers to choose from, run more rides for beneficiaries, and ultimately become established more quickly. All in all, a major step forward for the project.

Many thanks to all these funders, and to other local businesses who have donated items (Garmin, Zwift, Homebase, Salto and MJ Sports) and cash (Boatside Inn and John Lewis) to our cause.

Backing from County Hall

February also saw us garnering the support of recently elected County Councillor for Hexham East (Priestpopple), Dr Suzanne Fairless-Aitken, who has come on board as our Patron and is championing Cycling Minds at every opportunity.

“Hexham has need a cycling hub like ‘The Link’ for too long. It will not just offer a much-needed bike repair unit – crucial for users of our wonderful 180 mile ‘Hadrian’s cycleway’ – but also the valuable tourism opportunities provided by hiring the fleet of e-bikes in and on the cycling routes about town – that Toby knows really well,” says Suzanne.

“There is also, crucially, the opportunity for our youngsters to volunteer, be trained and learn essential life-skills which is until now unprecedented in the area – and this doesn’t even touch on the obvious, positive mental-health benefits of cycling, especially for those with post-lockdown issues that have been sadly all too noticeable among young people. When I suffered bouts of depression in my 20s it was biking that really helped me to get better – the focus needed, the planning, deciding how much push I needed just to get up that next hill – literally and metaphorically – and that real sense of achievement in completing a route,” she continues. “Cycling Minds very much ticks most of our [Hexham Town Council’s] list of priorities for the town – a sustainable social enterprise that will bring huge benefits to the health of the residents, and visitors to the town. Happy and Healthy Hexham – a win-win!”

GP on a bike: our first ambassador

We now have our first ambassador (and advisor), Dr Ollie Hart, attracted by our sports health and training programme which will make a valuable contribution to fulfilling the NHS’s targets for person-centred care and social prescribing under its Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care. Known as Doc on a Bike after he pledged to swap a car for an e-bike for his work as a GP Partner and Clinical Director of Heeley Plus Primary Care Network, Ollie is a personalised care lead with the Royal College of GPs, and one of two global Health and Wellbeing ambassadors for parkrun. He is also a director of Peak Health Coaching and has a strong interest in integrating conventional medical provision with addressing social determinants of health, sitting on the steering group of the national think tank, Rethinking Medicine. He has been at the forefront of championing person-centred care since 2014, engaging 70 GP practices to develop person-centred care skills. Welcome onboard Ollie!

Big cheers for the volunteers

It was so heart-warming to see 20 people kindly step forward to volunteer with Cycling Minds within just a couple of weeks of launching on social media. So many enthusiastic people with an amazing breadth and depth of skills, experience and knowledge came along to our volunteers’ meetings and working with them is going to be very rewarding. Together, Cycling Minds now has an even brighter future.

They include people with ride leader qualifications, trained bike mechanics and social workers with experience in mental health care, and they all share the belief that Cycling Minds can be something really special for the people of Hexham and West Northumberland.

We still need more support though, so come on, why not don your bike helmet and come on a ride with us.

Partnership with Twelfth City Cyclery

We’ve also been blessed with the support of Tom Hardy from Twelfth City Cyclery in Heddon. A very experienced bike mechanic and bike fitter, Tom is giving up his time to volunteer in our workshop. Rather than seeing Cycling Minds as competition for his own bike repair business, he is very keen to do all he can to help develop the project given its social benefits to his home town, Hexham. He will be volunteering as part of Twelfth City Cyclery’s membership of the 1% for the Planet movement, where business donate at least 1% of their profits in cash or in kind to environmental causes. Tom, you’re a star.

Cycling Minds goes live

We’ve also just held our first community outreach event, a bike check pop-up event on the Priestlands estate in partnership with one of our funders, Karbon Homes. In just 5 hours, we serviced 17 bikes, including that of Hexham’s Mayor, Derek Kennedy. Everyone who got their bikes looked at and, in most cases, fixed were hugely appreciative and are looking forward to bring them in to The Link for servicing in the future. There is clearly a lot of demand for a bike repairs in the area! A big thanks to volunteers Tom and Paul for their hard work alongside Toby, and to Dawn Snowball from Priestlands Residents’ Group, Denise Singleton from Karbon Homes, and Hexham Mayor, Derek Kennedy for making it happen.

Next steps

Over the next few weeks, we’ll finish onboarding all our volunteers and preparing to open our doors at The Link at the beginning of April, at which point we’ll be booking people in for repairs and taking donations of the second-hand bikes we’ll be refurbishing for resale. We’ll also be busy devising our ride programme for beneficiaries and paying customers ready for Easter.

All in all, yet another busy month awaits, so we’ll have plenty more to report in next month’s newsletter.

Until next time, free your legs and your mind will follow!