Winter Newsletter
Winter Newsletter – Cycling UK East Midlands Region
Welcome to the winter edition of our seasonal newsletter. One of our aims is to liaise with member and affiliated groups and other groups promoting cycling in all its aspects across the East Midlands Region. This newsletter should give a flavour of the huge number and wide range of activities happening this winter across the region and to help promote events such as organised rides, rallies and fundraising events for charity.
We would love to hear from you. We are your point of contact for the broader East Midlands Region. Cycling UK East Midlands Region committee meet several times a year and in November we discussed ways of ‘going forward’. We talked about how, across the region, we might encourage a wider audience and in particular younger riders and families to attend rides and events. We hope to organise promotional events in 2023 to help achieve that aim.
Our member and affiliated groups in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire were of course busy with a full programme of rides and events throughout the summer and autumn.
A few highlights include Alfreton Member Group’s successful Summer Wednesday Evening Social Rides and charity collection on behalf of Ashgate Hospice. Cyclists enjoyed cakes baked by the partners of members with riders putting a donation into a charity collection box for Ashgate Hospice in return for the cake. Alfreton collected a grand total of £84 which was passed on to the Hospice. Notts CTC also organised a very successful ‘An Autumn Day Out’ Audax on 15th September, with all proceeds going to the Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire Air Ambulance. A magnificent £784 was raised and has been passed on to the charity.
Looking forward to this winter season, Cycling UK East Midlands Region is once again organising the famous Mince Pie Cycle Run, taking place at Belton Village Hall between 10.30am and 12.30pm on Sunday 18th December. The last event in 2019 raised £962 via the tombola for the Rainbows Children's Hospice and we hope to exceed that sum this year. You can find out more about this event by clicking on this link.
Additionally, our member and affiliated groups in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire have a full programme of rides and events throughout the winter.
The following are just a few examples:
DERBYSHIRE
Christmas Socials are being organised by both the Derby and Burton groups with Derby Sunday Riders attending the Mince Pie Run in Belton on 18th December.
LEICESTERSHIRE and RUTLAND
The 70th Annual Cyclists' Carol Service is to be held at St Mary in Charnwood Church, Nanpantan, Loughborough starting at 1.30pm, Sunday 4th December. All are welcome. Many will also be attending the Mince Pie Run on 18th December. For details of all the latest news, the winter edition of ‘Cycle Chat’, Leicestershire and Rutland Cyclists’ Touring Club quarterly journal, is now available here.
LINCOLNSHIRE
Both Louth and Gainsborough are organising rides on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Time to decorate your bikes. No prizes but great fun!
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
Festive rides and events are being organised by Notts CTC with a ride to Belton for the Mince Pie Run just one of the highlights. The latest edition of the bi-monthly magazine, ‘Cyclonda’, is now available to purchase, detailing all of the rides and activities.
COMMUNITY CYCLE CLUBS
Community Cycle Clubs are at the heart of Cycling UK’s aim to bring about sustained change and to encourage more people to cycle. It’s great to see a number of such clubs flourishing in the East Midlands. For example, Brightwayz, a brand-new Community Cycle Club in Kettering is organising a community cycle ride on the last Sunday morning of the month throughout the winter. These are short, local, slow rides to enable non-confident cyclists to have a go alongside more experienced riders. There were also a number of events across Leicestershire organised by ‘The Bike Lounge’ as part of Big Bike Revival. These included led rides, Bike Kitchen, Tea and Tinker and a Bike Picnic in Loughborough.
Lauren Baker, Cycling UK’s Development Officer-East Midlands, has more details on Cycling UK East Midlands Facebook Page.
Looking further ahead in 2023, the York Rally takes place in June. The organisers are seeking new volunteers to assist. Their AGM is being held on 3rd December. For more details of how to help, visit their website here.
To find out full details of all the rides and events that are being organised by member and affiliated groups across the Cycling UK East Midlands Region, click the link below: