Community Outreach Update: September 2021

Upcoming Activity

The team sadly had to postpone the Pedal Pals event in August, but are working to reschedule it very soon – watch this space!
Health and Wellbeing are starting new work over the next few weeks with New Stobhill Hospital with individuals with history of offending, Elpis Centre for young women with experience of homelessness, Govan Community Project with women in the asylum system, East End Community Carers supporting unpaid carers and Cardonald College for students. On top of that, they are in discussion to start a group with Govanhill Baths too!
The team are also resuming weekly rides with Phoenix Futures Addiction Recovery Residential Service and NHS Esteem North.
They are continuing to train up three participants from Phoenix Futures Re-entry Hub to become Ride Leaders, and will also be in discussion to train up more Ride Leaders from previous groups they’ve worked with too – Queens Cross Housing Association, Glasgow City Mission and Homestart. This way the team can leave a legacy, as more people will be able to continue leading rides long after Bike for Good’s work with them has come to an end.

The women & non-binary mountain bike training group have been building up their confidence and this month seven members are going for an overnight expedition! The team have really enjoyed seeing the members develop their skill set so far.

The team testing out their bikepacking kits

Excited to get out for their expedition!

Screening of ‘Can We Cool The Planet’ will go ahead on Tuesday 28th September. Tickets and details
We will be holding our next Climate Action Group meet-up on Wednesday 22nd September instead. The meeting will centre on the subject of COP26. We’re delighted to be able to hold this meeting in person. Book here
We are delighted to announce that we will be holding an exhibition of photographs under the title of ‘Climate Change & Me’ in our South Hub from the week beginning Monday 13th September. Keep an eye on our facebook page for further details.
We will be launching a new cycling Hub at Civic Street in conjunction with Agile City next month. The soft launch is on Saturday 18th September – women and non-binary people can book cycle lessons and led rides taking place on the day here
Some slots still available for our bespoke family Essential Cycling Skills sessions – more details here
Lots of led rides planned with Glasgow University and Glasgow School of Art showing new students how to cycle around key Glasgow landmarks As well as a series of Dr Bike’s with Glasgow Clyde College getting folks bikes out of their shed and getting fixed up to get back onto the road to start commuting. Keep an eye on our socials

The team continue to hear many reports of positive changes in people’s lives through their work with them in the last few months, for example, Terez from Homestart. She was very isolated before caring for 2 young sons with additional needs in Knightswood. Now she is regularly getting out and about with them both with a trailer and a tow bike!
Team members Robin and Zain have been working hard to deliver the social prescribing for cycling program. They have now received 40 referrals from Community Links Practitioners (CLPs) across the city. Each one of the patient referrals goes through a 10 week block of cycling sessions to improve their mental and physical health along with building their confidence. With 20 new CLPs coming into post over the next few months the team expect the number of referrals to rise.
Along with delivering sessions to referrals, they have also put 4 of the CLPs through their Cycle Ride leader training so that they can continue to deliver sessions to patients themselves once the 10 week period of engagement has ended.

Terez taking her family out for a ride

Build Your Own Bike course had 5 participants. 4 finished the course and rebuilt their bikes of dreams including fresh lick of paint. The group finished with a lovely bike ride around the West end.
In partnership with the Venture Trust a group of eight young people have started a two week long journey to build their own bikes and gain valuable City and Guilds accreditation in Cycle mechanics. They are on a promising way for the future employment. The team even had a visit from Jamie Hepburn (Minister of Youth Employment and Training) who learnt how to replace tyre and inner tube.

Build Your Own Bike participants with their amazing refurbed bikes!

Bike loans have been going well recently, with another 5 going out in the last week! Our bike loan service is ideal for those on the fence about commuting by bike, it gives them a no-cost loan of a bike, panniers, lock and lights plus lots of route navigation and riding support.
Monthly led rides with Woodlands Community Gardens have been going well with a steady amount of regular cyclists growing in confidence.

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