Celebration of volunteering

London: National Cycle Network maintenance

Ian Jackson looks after a patch on the edge of London (starts near Dartford). His patch is non-urban and very 'wild and hard to manage'. It is constantly over-grown and has plenty of bushes, weeds and shrubs to contend with. He manages a small group of local volunteers to help him out on task sessions. He has done brush cutter training and now has his own brush cutter locally which is used on the site. Ian has been fantastic to work with over the years, always a positive attitude and energy for his volunteering tasks.

London: Raising the profile of Sustrans

Richard has done a tremendous amount to raise the profile of Sustrans in his area through setting-up and manning a Sustrans stall at local events. He has also represented Sustrans interests through his role with The Canal & River Trust and the U3A. Local route signing and maintenance has also been a key activity. His volunteering has taken place in Hoddesdon, Broxbourne and into London. He has also found time to help neighbouring Harlow. Richard has suffered from illness for some time, but it has not let this deter him from his keen interest in cycling, attracting others and keeping a high awareness of Sustrans. As a result of his commitment, Richard has inspired others to cycle. He invested in an e-bike some time ago which helps him to still participate fully.

Midlands and East England: Back the Track community group and National Cycle Network 5 Sustrans volunteers

Volunteers in Pelsall have provided invaluable support, since 1999, regularly caring for local National Cycle Network 5 (also locally known as the “McClean Way”). In 2022 they have joined forces with a local community group, 'Back the Track' to excavate a “hut” on the route. The volunteers’ commitment has previously led to a visit from the West Midlands Mayor, Andy Street, who visited the route to view the amazing work the volunteers have done, and whose Facebook page has attracted thousands of likes from local residents.

 Read the blog to learn more about this and their volunteering  

Midlands and East England: Schools and Millennium Mileposts

Jean has volunteered since 2019, but it was when she was asked to help Sustrans talk to schools about painting Mileposts that she really got interested. Jean is a retired primary school deputy headteacher. She realised she could use her skills and knowledge of working in schools to help us connect the community with the National Cycle Network through our Millennium Mileposts.

Jean was really excited at the prospect of volunteering and supporting Sustrans through her two passions: working with children and cycling.  She had many ideas to support us in talking to schools.

One of these ideas was an assembly presentation about Sustrans and the benefits of cycling. Another idea included a competition to get all the children to create a colourful design for the Millennium milepost.

Jean worked with 3 schools in her neighbourhood. She delivered 6 assemblies and motivated children and teachers into drawing their designs.  Then Jean organised two local mayors to judge the pictures, choose the winning design, and present the certificates and prizes.

Jean also created bike goodie bags for the winning designs in different age categories, sewing the bags herself from bike patterned fabric.

She has organised other volunteers (including two Sixth Form College art students) to help her prepare and paint the mile posts and even found a professional artist to volunteer to paint one – all using the children’s designs as inspiration.

So far, Jean has painted two mileposts in Colchester, with 3 more remaining. She is working with other volunteers and schools to complete them all.   

No of schools worked with - 3 No of assemblies delivered - 6 No of children worked with - 848 No of classes worked with - 29 No of mileposts completed - 2 

In addition to this, as part of her personal challenge to cycle on Sustrans Routes from Colchester to Devon, she has recently completed a sponsored cycle from Oxford to Bournemouth raising well over £1,000 for The Catherine Bullen Foundation charity. During this ride on Route 23 in Winchester, she accidently met with a fellow Sustrans volunteer, Paul.

And keen that no one should get lost whilst on a Sustrans route, she goes out regularly with fellow Colchester volunteer, Nick, to clean, update and set up Network route signs in her area.

Midlands and East England: Schools volunteering

Jayson is a wonderful advocate of Sustrans. He works in a Leicester school and has done so much good for his pupils and colleagues. He is always on hand to support pupils, who choose to cycle to school or use bikes to get around. Jayson will help to fix the pupils bikes and supports families who need access to cheap cycles. Jayson organised a course to teach children to cycle and ensured they all left the programme with a bike. The school that Jayson works at has come 4th in the Big Walk and Wheel two years in a row. Jayson has also given up his free time to support community bike rides away from his school area. He is a wonderful volunteer and supporter of Sustrans.

Midlands and East England: Website builder

Chris put together a  website  to collect responses from a survey that went out to candidates just before the elections. This was to help residents learn about the views of their candidates around active travel. This was mainly for the Birmingham all out 2022 May election. His work, including the funcationality he was able to put together, is incredible. He really drove the project and was amazing at getting more people to support, when he didn't have the answers. It was a lot of work to get it out before the deadline, even with some complicated challenges. We hope to use this platform again, perhaps to survey the newly elected members after a year of being in office. To see what they have done for each of their wards in terms of active travel. Chris is meticulous, dedicated and detailed. An asset to the team!

Midlands and East England: Clearing the outdoor classroom on the Brampton Valley Way

Jenny has volunteered for Sustrans since 2015, after being involved in supporting a Sustrans project in Northampton.

After the project finished, the Greener Greenways project began and Jenny helped to create and maintain an outdoor space on the Brampton Valley Way known as the Outdoor Classroom. This included wildflower planting, installing a “story chair”, clearing out overgrown vegetation and helping to lead forest schools sessions and a number of activities in the space. After the project concluded in 2019, Jenny continued to support forest school sessions on the site until the lockdown in March 2020. Since the site wasn’t attended, it became overgrown with vegetation and began to see signs of anti-social behaviour. Then in 2022, Jenny approached Sustrans and asked to begin sessions again on site. She motivated and led task day sessions at the classroom and has received support from a local church and primary school to help clear the site and begin forest school sessions again.

The local primary school headteacher has recently attended and helped at a task day session. Jenny continues to lead sessions for local residents to attend and is encouraging the local school to bring their children to the site. The church group are also attending the site independently now and are keen to stay involved.

Midlands and East England: Volunteers promoting Sustrans

David is a volunteer Group Coordinator in Thurrock, Essex. Whilst volunteering for 15 years he has seen some ebbs and flows in the volunteering team.  David promotes Sustrans through stalls at events, as well as running regular rides to check Network signs.  The volunteer group will sweep the paths in their patch, cut back small sections of errant vegetation as well as making sure signs are pointing the right way.    David is also Chair of Thurrock Cycle Forum and leads short rides for Gateway, his local cycle club. David says his efforts are fulfilling, benefiting the community, and encouraging others to move in ways that are good for themselves and for the environment.

Midlands and East England: Pragmatic people getting going

Richard is an enthusiastic volunteer and was looking for something positive and active to do in his time off from a very desk-based working life.  In 2017, he wrote to a local trust to get some funds. With that he’s bought a wheelbarrow, spades, loppers, PPE and he has been running regular task days with his local volunteer team once a month ever since.

This year, Richard has run three task days with 6 or 7 volunteers along to each.

"Our task days are a great way to get active in the outdoors, and a gentle way to get back into exercise after an illness or injury.  On our last task day, we counted around 350 bike riders using the National Cycle Network routes that we are helping to keep in good order".

Richard runs a social ride he calls the “mince pie run”, where lucky volunteers get to taste Richard’s wife’s baking! 

Cutting vegetation and re-signing is planned around Hadley Wood, replacing, and refreshing faded or missing signs.

Additionally, Richard plans to start a mid-week volunteer session to accommodate those with other commitments at weekends.

Midlands and East England: Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data analysis

Ian has volunteered alongside our GIS team to identify parts of our data that could be improved upon.

This has focused on ensuring that data shown on OpenStreetMaps matches with the information presented on OrdinanceSurvey (OS) mapping. which the National Cycle Network is hosted on. Ian has been able to map every discrepancy between the two datasets across the whole of the UK, and has kindly shared this information with our GIS team for us to action. He has also offered his wider support for replicating this process on our own system, so we have a parallel process running. All 12,000 miles of the National Cycle Network have been covered and analysed, and the additional removed and reclassified sections of routes have been included to match the discrepancies. All this information has been made available publicly to view by Ian for anyone to analyse. Ian will be helping our GIS team to match the data, and make sure that we have the correct information on both systems. To improve user access to the National Cycle Network when using both pieces of software.

North England: Stockton Hub bike mechanics

The Hub is incredibly lucky to have 5 dedicated volunteer bike mechanics, Malcolm, John, Brian, Ron and Eric.

They are an incredibly valuable part of the Hub and keep us running. They fix up bikes donated by the public, which are then given to either community groups, asylum seekers and refugees, food bank users, schools or members of the public.

In addition to this, they fix members of the public's bikes, go out into the community doing Dr Bikes, run maintenance courses and deliver Bikability training. The mechanic team supports so many different groups and individuals across Stockton-on-Tees to get out on their bikes. They volunteer every week, (up to twice a week), and have done so for years. As Sustrans' presence increases in the Tees Valley, and with the success of The Stockton Hub, it has become clear that these volunteers are the glue of the Hub and active travel.

North England: Nordic walk leading

Elizabeth has been running the Nordic Walking group for many years. It is thanks to her dedication that the group has gone from strength to strength. Despite having to suspend meeting together during the COVID-19 pandemic, she endeavoured to keep everyone in touch by setting up WhatsApp messaging groups. This year has not been an easy one, but we have welcomed several new members who have become dedicated regulars. There are three sessions from which members can choose to attend any, some or all. They are held at Rising Sun Country Park. All levels of fitness are made welcome and Elizabeth always makes sure that there are volunteers in the group supporting those who are less able, or whose fitness might be less than others. She often comments on how much she appreciates the support that she gets from the volunteers. Not only does Elizabeth run the groups, but she also keeps in touch with those who are unable to attend for whatever reason. Offering encouragement and support when needed, and assuring them that they will always be welcomed back to the group. Members are invited to meet socially after the session and several friendships have been made. Elizabeth is an amazing example of a brilliant Nordic Walking coach and volunteer group leader.

North England: Sociable litter picking in York

Wendy has organised weekly litter picks and vegetation management all year round for several years for the York East group, on the 66 and 658 cycleway. Her friendly approach makes everyone feel welcomed and valued. She makes the activity very sociable and encourages others to take the lead in organising and recording the activities. She's excellent at liaising with Sustrans and with other organisations, such as the council, to arrange pick ups, collection of large items, and delivery of bags. She tries different activities to encourage new members to join, and to build up the team spirit by organising different types of get-togethers. Wendy leads by example, often going out on her own in addition to the weekly litter picks. Her determination means she'll get to those hard to reach or bulky items. Partcipants find that Wendy's socialable approach makes litter picking a satisfying volunteering activity and enjoyable part of the week.

North England: Caring, influencing and leading the way

Caroline lives in Wetherby and is a volunteer extraordinaire. She often goes out clearing paths, cutting back brambles and trees. Or anything she thinks will improve the Harland Way and other Sustrans routes out of Wetherby. She is persistent when trying to liaise with local politicians, council officers, Sustrans employees, but always cheerful in her approach. Singlehandedly, she persuaded a reluctant developer to make good of a vital link to the Harland Way in time for the UCI Championships in 2019, when some of the races went through Wetherby. Every summer Caroline leads short cycle rides for the local U3A, using the network of Sustrans routes nearby. Caroline is great fun, knows all the history of the area and works hard.

North England: Bridge the Gap

Frank has volunteered with the Richmond Group for many years. He was largely responsible for the “Bridge the Gap” project, which resulted in the WW1 bridge over the River Swale at Catterick Bridge being converted into a multi-user route. Since then, he has also been involved in organising the resurfacing of several bridleways in the Catterick Garrison area, and in regular maintenance tasks on Longwood Bank and by the bridge. He is now encouraging support for the long-delayed erection of an explanatory signboard by the start of the pipe bridge route. Without him the activities of the Richmond group would be much curtailed.

North England: Wildflower photography

Paul photographs wildflowers along the entire 10km section of the Trans Pennine Trail, between Penistone and Dunford Bridge, each year and throughout the year.

He shares the images on social media, along with the names of the flowers and any useful or interesting information. People often are so pleased to know what to look out for, and the names of the flowers.

Paul also acts as brilliant eyes and ears on the route, alerting Sustrans to issues as they arise - and is a steady voice on social media, allaying fears and soothing possible altercations.

Paul has given his considerable time and effort to the route over several years.

North England: Barnsley Trans Pennine Trail volunteering group

A regular core group of volunteers has been attending Sustrans' colleague-led volunteer task days on the Trans Pennine Trail in Barnsley for over a year. Examples include: - Opening up and vastly improving a Trans Pennine Trail community garden to make it safer and more inviting. Also, regular tasks at the garden to maintain it. - Creation of new wildflower areas - Creation of new habitats for rare species - Helping to install posts for a wildlife trail

These session have been led by a Sustrans employee. However, as funding ended in October, one of the volunteers, Roz has volunteered to continue to organise and lead the tasks on a monthly basis. There is a real camaraderie in this group, and volunteers support each other. One volunteer recently bought a new bike and was feeling nervous about cycling to task days. So, two other volunteers offered to meet up and cycle with her. Also, when it was announced that Roz would be leading task days, another volunteer offered to bring the refreshments and some tools, so that there was less for Roz to organise. Volunteers in the group have listened to each other about what tasks they would like to focus on going forward, and these have been worked into a plan for the group.

North England: University student volunteering

Florence volunteered with Sustrans while she was completing her Masters Degree in Urban Planning at the University of Sheffield. What was exceptional about Florence - apart from her lovely nature, her friendliness, enthusiasm and commitment - was how she took on the role of ambassador amongst her course-mates, encouraging them also to become Sustrans wildlife champions. In addition, Florence volunteered to coordinate the work needed at the University's iForge. To create 3D surfaces from the pictures drawn by children at one of the local Primary schools, so that they could make a Rainbow Trail of 'rubbing' posts through Beeley Woods. She organised the timetabling and work of the group and the results are brilliant.

North England: Preston volunteering group

Heather has helped revive the Sustrans volunteering group, which was originally run by her dad, Mike. He helped to establish the 21 mile Preston Guild Wheel route that circumnavigates Preston. Heather got in touch in early 2021, seeking support from Sustrans to revive the volunteer group to act as custodians of the Guild Wheel. To keep celebrating the route, planning and running task days and encouraging local people to look after the route. Heather has very quickly established regular task days and organised volunteers to help with these, so that the group is sustainable. In addition, Heather has successfully sought the support of both Preston City and Lancashire County Council, to ensure these landowners are liaised with appropriately. Heather has set out a plan of action, with local volunteers, to address issues with the route over the short, medium and long term. Heather and the group have managed to secure significant funding to help the group to continue into the future. Recently, the group was approached by a locally based corporate partner, who noticed the group's work and saw an opportunity to support their efforts. The group has now been offered safe tools storage with the partner, free First Aid training for volunteers, and they are encouraging their colleagues to use their employee volunteer day. All of this wouldn't be possible without Heather's approachable, but thorough methods of engagement, which has seen the group attract increasing amounts of support.

North England: Volunteer group coordinator leading by example

John has been a volunteer group coordinator for several years now and continues to lead by example. Frequently tidying paths on the NCN and elsewhere in the city. John often involves volunteers from outside the group in their work, and has shown initiative in involving a group from Good Gym in clearing a section of NCN 66. John encourages volunteers to take photos of the work they do. He has also formed a valuable link with the Leeds City Council Cycling Officer. They hold regular catch-up meetings, and she has come out on rides with volunteers to inspect access barriers and other issues. John has helped with the Sustrans barrier audit, local exhibitions, and has campaigned for car free days in Leeds. He is highly motivated towards promoting active travel in and around Leeds.

North England: Accessibility champion

Kathy has piloted the accessibility project with the Trans Penine Trail (TPT) since 2011. Going above and beyond to assist users of the paths, who struggle with access within her area, Stockport, due to restrictive barriers. As well as liaising with the local authority on how changes can be implemented. Kathy works within the Stockport area and is extremely knowledgeable about the whole Network within Stockport. Kathy has gone over and above assisting and guiding users through Stockport safely avoiding barriers on the route. Kathy has also volunteered to be the accessibility champion in Sustrans and offers advice and guidance to senior members looking to implement change. Her knowledge is second to none. Kathy is as volunteer group coordinator and has a good working relationship with Stockport MBC. She has responded to consultations and policies on behalf of the Trans Pennine Trail office and Sustrans, ensuring accessibility is at the forefront of their minds and improvements.

North England: Paths for Everyone volunteering

Margaret has been an incredible volunteer in the North West since recently re-locating to Carlisle. Although there were no active volunteers in the city, Margaret became involved in a number of projects, including the consultation for Carlisle’s LCWIp, encouraging others to get involved. Margaret has also taken part in Sustrans volunteering tasks relating to Paths for everyone: barrier audit and Removal and Reclassification. Margaret is working with the local cycle forum and the Bicycle mayor for Cumbria. Additionally, Margaret has been liasing with Network Managers to address local route issues.

Northern Ireland: Forth Meadow Community Greenway - #OnCommonGround 

Belfast City Council received funding from Interreg to engage local people from all communities, regardless of historical sectarian divides, along a new greenway linking existing parks and open spaces, in north and west Belfast. The focus was to provide training and support to build their confidence as walk and cycle leaders, nature guides and ambassadors in their area.

Sustrans has worked with the local community over the last 2 years. To recruit and train a team of volunteers in a range of walking and cycling activities, alongside mediation skills. Around 20 of these volunteers, alongside the nature trail leaders and ambassadors trained by The Conservation Volunteers and Volunteer Now, now make up the Forth Meadow volunteering group.

The group of volunteers built up their skills and confidence during the course of their 30 hour role specific training and engagement programme. This has led them to planning, assessing and recording routes for group activities.

They are supporting each other and providing led group walks and bike rides, open to everyone. To get out and enjoy the glorious greenway, which has connected swathes of shared space in the north and west of Belfast to the new Transport Hub in the city centre.

Individual characters stand out at different times, helping lead the walks and rides, getting the word out. Patricia, Helen and Charlie are great walk leaders, showing genuine care towards participants with understanding and respect to individuals, making adjustment to suit everyone at the regular social walks.

Caroline, Karen, Dayne, and Mark, introduced as the fab four last year, have continued to shine. Building up their skills, including bike mechanics, along with Aoife, Chris, Joanne, Kris and Mary, who have strengthened ride teams, team inclusivity and continue to bring sparkle to all events - from Community cycle picnic to Spooks ‘n Spokes.

Among the regular activities on offer are led walks on a Friday morning from Falls Park, and a Santa Cycle is planned for December.

The volunteers recently held their second Big Walk. Exploring the routes from the Falls Park to the Forth River, Glencairn over 10 miles. There are also future plans for a trike club.

There are many opportunities that come with volunteering, as local Mark can confirm. He signed up to lead cycle rides in the spring of 2021.

Mark said: “I first took part in this about a year and a half ago. The reason I joined was because I retired from work and I wanted to stay active. I wanted to learn new skills and I wanted to meet some new friends if that was possible.”

Find out more about Belfast City Council’s PEACE IV programme at:  www.belfastcity.gov.uk/peaceiv 

Northern Ireland: Pedal Power volunteering

 Pedal Power  is a cycling club for participants from the partner organisation, Brain Injury Matters. The riders have experienced acquired brain injury, many are disabled, and have significant balance and mobility issues. The riders use either the piloted side by side cycle, or ride independently on Ice Trikes accompanied by trained volunteer ride buddies. The club meet at the Active Travel Hub in CS Lewis Square, which has links to greenways leading to Victoria Park, which is our ride route. It is a social club as much as a cycling club. Following the rides, everyone meets in the cafe next door to enjoy coffee and lunch together. The laughter from the group can be heard outside. John is a much loved regular volunteer at  Pedal Power  Fridays. John has been volunteering with Sustrans since 2018 and at Pedal Power for around 6 months. He initially made a commitment to volunteer once per month, but after his first day, he offered to up his commitment to every other week, however, he often comes every week now. When it comes to the participants, nothing is too much trouble for John. He treats everyone with care and affection and dignity, when assisting them to get on and off the trikes, fit cycling shoes and helmets and anything else that needs doing to prepare for the ride, continually checking they are okay. He has a laugh with everyone and makes everyone feel at ease. He knows the participants personally and understands each one as an individual, and he demonstrates an attitude of genuine inclusivity in every thing he does. His positivity, attitude and approach are truly inspirational. For the ride buddy volunteers, who are mostly Brain Injury Matters volunteers, he is always available and approachable to give them assistance and advice based on his own experience as a cycling volunteer. He has also assisted in delivering training sessions. John also assists with preparing and checking all the volunteer bikes and fixing little mechanical issues, which pop up on them and the ice trikes.

He arrives early and helps to set up, and is the last one to leave. Helping to put all the bikes back, fix any issues and clean up. All this is done with a smile and a genuine investment in the operations and success of  Pedal Power . When it comes to coffee time, John is in the middle of the group of volunteers and participants, enjoying the stories and laughs.

Volunteers are the key to the success of Pedal Power. They have enjoyed developing new skills as ride buddies alongside the participants, who have been developing their cycling skills too at the same time.

It is a truly inclusive environment and everyone there, volunteers and participants, are learning together, at their own pace and in their own time, on their own journeys, but all together. John has brought so much value to everyone's development and enjoyment in every way he can.  Read more about the Pedal Power project in Northern Ireland. 

Northern Ireland: Active Travel Hub volunteering

Karen is an inspirational volunteer. In spring this year, Karen agreed to help with a group of adults completing e-bike trials as part of the Department Agriculture Environment Rural Affairs funded project at the Active Travel Hub at CS Lewis Square. Karen immediately engaged with the group, was very organised and extremely helpful during the e-bike activity. She then helped at the information stand at CS Lewis Square at a recent event in springtime, celebrating 25 year of EastSide partnership. Karen has excellent customer service and communication skills, she is proactive in what she does and is a dynamic individual, who engages easily with people and cycling groups. Karen has helped at a number of led rides and recently with the volunteer led ride programme from the hub. She is a great Ride Manager, and has recently volunteered to help with promotion of the led ride opportunities through Eventbrite. Karen is enthusiastic about volunteering, generous with her time and always willing to help.

 Read more about Active Travel Hubs in Northern Ireland 

Northern Ireland: Pedal Perks volunteering - Cycling discount scheme

This is unique in Sustrans, as the scheme only exists in Northern Ireland. Retailers, who join the scheme, are provided with a  Pedal Perks  sticker in their window and offer a discount of their choosing to customers that cycle. There are a wide range of 'pedal perks', from a free coffee to 20% discount off a food bill, or simply an extra loyalty point on a card. This scheme is one of those 'nice to do' projects, but has no budget or resources attached to it. Hence it was important to get a volunteer to support. As a volunteer, Brian has taken this on with gusto! He is passionate about getting businesses to sign up and getting the word out to the cycling public. Not only is this important to encourage cycling, but it helps to persuade the often sceptical business community that cycling is 'good for business'. The scheme began in east Belfast, but Brian has expanded its reach to other parts of the city, in particular, signing up at least five new shops in north Belfast. This has raised the profile in an area of the city where cycling is less popular. His volunteering is inspirational, because he is both fearless and enthusiastic. Pitching a scheme to any business is not an easy task, but he has been persistent and has had great success. Part of the volunteering involves uploading new 'Pedal Perkers' to the  website map . Over the summer, Brian took part in an IT course, which has resulted in a new job in computing. He was able to hone some of those IT skills with Sustrans, and certainly volunteering has given him more confidence. He will hopefully continue to be the Pedal Perks volunteer. They are lucky to have him.

Scotland: Barrier volunteering

Between September 2021 and November 2022, 59 volunteers joined our Scotland Barrier Audit. They were trained to survey the National Cycle Network and submit data on access controls and physical restrictions to us through a smartphone app. These volunteers completed over 520 miles of surveying – that's more than 75% of all the traffic-free Network in Scotland – and recorded over 2,800 barriers. We couldn’t have got anywhere near this without them.

This data now informs our work with Network partners, who apply for our Barrier Removal Fund. We received the following email from an adapted bike user after Sustrans worked with a local authority through the Fund to address a barrier, which we had audit data for:

“You may remember that I got in touch in June to ask you if you would consider removing a cycling barrier that was preventing me from cycling to [the country park] using my adapted bike.  I cannot tell you how happy I was when I was out cycling at the weekend to find that the barrier has been replaced with an accessible one. I negotiated the barrier with absolutely no issue and the other new ones that have been installed along the route.  I am so thankful for your help in this matter. It means that not only can I reach the park, but the other cycle routes that stem from there. Thank you so much for your help! I wish that I could adequately describe in words what a difference this makes for me.” 

Scotland: Girl Guiding - Milepost makeover

As part of their  Wander the World project , Girl Guiding Scotland partnered with Sustrans to redesign and paint 5 Millennium Mileposts across Scotland. The mileposts were based in train stations to tie in with the theme of sustainable travel, and in some cases the winning designer helped with the painting.

Scotland: #AndSheCycles - Social media volunteering

 #AndSheCycles  is a national campaign which aims to get more teenage girls and young women cycling.

Volunteers have helped the campaign from the very beginning, conducting research about why fewer teenage girls cycle regularly compared to boys, and supporting the all-girls cycling groups in schools across Scotland.

Now there are four fab new  #AndSheCycles  social media volunteers – Cecily, Eve, Joy and Sophie – who will use their creativity to spread the message! Cecily, Eve and Joy are currently studying Geography, Marketing and Gender Studies, and all the volunteers are bringing a passion to the empowering aims of the campaign.

Recruiting young volunteers has meant they connect easily with our target audience and are interested in growing the campaign to include platforms like Snapchat and TikTok.

Scotland: Beewalk survey volunteering

Kirsten has been volunteering for Sustrans for many years, doing BeeWalk surveys on three transects mapped along route 77 in Perth, and feeding the results back to Bumblebee Conservation Trust. By walking the route every month between March and October, she is able to check it is in good condition, and provide consistent data that helps monitor the health of Scotland’s pollinators. “I really enjoy Bee Walk and am glad that I can do something useful on the Sustrans network. I’m not a cyclist but a walker, and it is important to remember that the sustainable transport network is for all sorts of non-powered transport.  Walking gives time for watching bees and explaining to a few curious passers-by what I am doing and why.”

Scotland: I Bike volunteering - Dr Bike sessions in schools

I Bike is our Scottish schools programme led by a team supported by dedicated volunteers. 

We run Dr Bike sessions with many primary and secondary schools across the country, inviting a class to bring their bikes to the playground for free checks and maintenance.

This year volunteers supported 18 Dr Bike sessions, fixing 361 bikes for pupils.

Training is provided for volunteers, who are interested in improving their mechanic skills. After a course in Perth this summer, even more Perth volunteers have helped at Dr Bike sessions this year.

Stuart, an I Bike volunteer, says: “Volunteering for Dr. Bike sessions is a great way for me to give something back to the cycling community. The freedom a bike gives you is unparalleled. It’s the closest experience to flying without an engine.”

Scotland: I Bike volunteering - Learn to cycle

I Bike is our Scottish schools programme led by a team supported by dedicated I Bike volunteers. 

A vital activity is teaching children to cycle for the first time. This year, volunteers supported 40 learn to ride sessions, with 183 pupils attending.

Two volunteers in Edinburgh – Rosemary and David – took their volunteering a step further by leading their own 'learn to cycle' sessions. This enables older pupils to get pedalling for the first time, and then join in with the Bikeabilty programme and class led bike rides.

Rosemary says: "I volunteer with I Bike, because I believe it matters that every child has the opportunity to learn to ride a bike and develop the skills to cycle safely and with confidence. The highlight has been enjoying the sense of achievement and delight children feel when they first discover they can ride a bike."

Scotland: I Bike - Leading bike rides

I Bike is our Scottish schools programme led by a team supported by dedicated I Bike volunteers. 

A popular activitiy is is taking groups of children out on bike rides in their local area. Volunteers, who are trained cycle ride leaders and assistants, are so important in making these rides happen. In 2022, volunteers supported 74 rides, with 1 or 2 volunteers each time, reaching 1394 pupils.

Some stand-out rides in Dumfries & Galloway have included taking primary pupils on their new cycle route to secondary school in Moffat, led rides to visit a local outdoor art project in Dumfries, and engaging a group of teenage girls in cycling trips to Heathhall forest. Volunteers have also helped run a bike bus, which gets pupils home safely from Dalbeattie High School to outlying villages.

John, an I Bike volunteer, said, “A fab moment was the #AndSheCycles group humming with excitement after their led ride to Heathhall Forest.” 

Scotland: Kilmarnock Active Travel Hub - Volunteering makes me happy

The Active Travel Hub in Kilmarnock delivers behaviour change activities across Ayrshire. To increase people’s knowledge of active travel choices, develop more positive attitudes towards active travel, and increase levels of walking and cycling for everyday journeys through a variety of digital engagement resources and face to face engagement. Part of the face-to-face engagement include several led walks led by volunteers.

Family volunteering has proved popular with the hub. For one of the couples, becoming volunteers offered them a lifeline and has proved to be a positive move for both their physical and mental health. Kevin said “It’s good to be able to give something back”.  Their involvement has also inspired another husband and wife team to sign up as volunteers.

Scotland: Renfrewshire Thursday squad

The Renfrewshire Thursday Squad meets every week of every year to undertake maintenance of routes 7 and 75, where Sustrans has maintenance responsibility.

They litterpick, undercoat, paint, clear drains, cut back vegetation, maintain artworks, remove graffiti, rescue signs and more. Their presence is well-known in the area, and makes these routes clean, safe and well-regarded with regular positive feedback from the public.

Scotland: Community Networks - supported by Love Your Network community grant

Community Networks is a day service for people with learning disabilities. The service users are supported to be active citizens within their local community and are regularly supported to keep route 7 clean through litterpicks.

"As a service we recognise it gives our service users a great opportunity to be involved in helping the community keep local nature/cycle paths safe for everyone, meet new people, gain skills and experience. The guys are always happy to work on the track and help keep it clean rain or shine".

Florence Miller: Day Service Officer

They promote their work through a Facebook page and the health and social care partnership. The group recently received litterpicking equipment and hi-vis vests through the Love Your Network community grant.

Scotland: Alloway Tunnel ART project

A small group of volunteers came together to look at how they could improve the old railway tunnel to make the walking and cycling route more attractive to users. Three of these members had previously been volunteers with Sustrans. Their experiences gained as volunteers encouraged them to believe they could make a difference for the benefit of the local community, as well as the many visitors to the area. The group applied to the Sustrans ArtRoots fund for a grant to help with the initial stages of the project. At the same time, there was a widespread consultation led by South Ayrshire Council on the proposed Culzean Way. This would not only enhance the National Cycle Network along the coast, but with lobbying from the Alloway Tunnel group, it was agreed the tunnel would be included in this aspirational project too. With the initial funding secured, the group then approached Ayrshire College and rapidly built a good working relationship with them. The students helping with the website and community engagement.

 https://www.allowaytunnel.org.uk/ 

South England: School Streets volunteering

Jose, Jose and Moises arrived in the UK this year from El Salvador as refugees. With support from Action Asylum, they approached Sustrans looking for a volunteering opportunity in the area. Wanting to become part of the community and practice their English, but also needing to keep busy for their mental health.

We were looking for volunteers at a School Streets scheme in Portsmouth, but it was a 40-minute walk away. Through links with Welcome Wheels, they were given bikes, training, and equipment to get there.

Jose and his friends did excellently volunteering at the Meon Infant and Junior Schools in Portsmouth, helping every day throughout the scheme.

Jose said: “I’m volunteering to help the children have a safer path to go home. It’s a good way to protect the children, while having a positive impact on the environment too.”

“It’s an amazing thing. It is good exercise for the children and parents, and a way to bring everyone together to enjoy the walk to school each day.”

South England: Solent Cycle Project

Anne is the founder of the  Solent Cycle Project , and has done more than anyone to get people cycling in the Havant area.

She has been running Dr Bike sessions even through Covid. She's been building and encouraging a team of diverse talents to work together, to achieve more than any of them could have hoped to achieve on their own.

She has set up Solent Remade as an Unincorporated Association, as an umbrella organisation to manage and coordinate these groups and give them a firm financial footing.

She's built a small funding stream to acquire tools, insurance and some of the basic necessities. And she's found a base at Havant Station on peppercorn rent to store it all. She is getting herself trained up as a Bikeability Instructor, and leading 'Bike The Borough' rides to help people gain confidence to ride instead of driving.

None of that would have happened without Anne's drive, enthusiasm and hard work. And she's always smiling.

South England: Schools volunteering

Karola has been volunteering for Sustrans for over 10 years. She helps in schools and community groups running and supporting sessions and activities.

Karola has helped run a local primary school bike club for many years, and runs Dr Bike sessions in schools and community groups across Brighton and East Sussex. She has given countless hours of her time bringing her amazing mechanic skills, hard work and friendly nature. She's taught hundreds of children to ride bikes, run skills sessions for many more, and fixed thousands of bikes.

Karola volunteers at least once a week, often more. She has been coming into a Refuge to fix bikes, which is really inspiring for the children and women living there to see a female mechanic. Karola fixes the bikes and helps the children get involved.

Karola is an amazing volunteer. I couldn’t do this job without her ongoing support.

South England: Cycling Without Age

Roger uses his cycling to help vulnerable people get out and about.

Roger bought an adapted bike to help ensure his parents, who had limited mobility, were able to get out and about.

He now offers wheelchair rides regularly on Wednesdays and is also a trained Cycling Without Age volunteer. Roger also keeps up to date with good practice in cycle design, sharing and promoting this online.

South England: Endless local commitment

Glynis Miller has been an enduring supporter of our Plym valley trail NCN27 since before I met her in 2008.

Her joy of riding her bike (rarely uses a car), length of service being a Sustrans volunteer, great knowledge and information, working hard to clear paths or make teas at meetings is inspiring.

It is always inspiring listening to when she and her husband physically helped with making poor cycle paths better, helping with construction and exploring routes under the trail blazers into new areas, like the south hams in South Devon.

With her husband John, she continues to work along the NCN27 with maintenance and signing. She recently raised a safety issue and has put in a sign for road safety, where the Cyclepath joins the Clearbrook road.

Glynis is such a inspiring and reliable volunteer and is a pleasure to work with or listen to. Well done Glynis!

South England: Invaluable local knowledge

John has been an invaluable support to the engagement work Sustrans has been doing in Tiverton as part of the Tranche 4 DfT funding. When he was intially contacted with questions about the Tiverton area, he offered lots of great advice and local insight, as well as community contacts. He also offered his time to show others around the local routes so they could get familiar with the Tiverton and Knighthayes area.

John helped to manage a brilliant summer led ride, by organising some loan bikes for attendees, who might not have access to a bike otherwise. He also helped support the delivery of the ride, both joining us as a Sustrans volunteer and representing the local community group, Sustainable Tiverton. His help at the event was soon after he had a medical operation, which demonstrates his commitment to supporting Sustrans' mission.

He offered fantastic support in the promotion of the led ride, volunteering to put up posters and give out leaflets. John's contributions had a huge impact on our ride event. From being able to access rental bikes, to getting the activity well promoted, to connecting us to local stakeholders.

John's offerings have been invaluable. His service to Sustrans inspirational, as he brought a welcoming and enthusiastic attitude to all we have worked on, coupled with real generosity of his time and efforts. Thank you, John!

South England: One person’s impact on School Streets success

Chris is a parent based in Falmouth area. He responded to Sustrans when we reached out to the school community looking for volunteers to run the road closure at St Mary's Primary school Street. He was hesitant at first to sign up, but once he had a go, there was no stopping him!

He started by offering to run the closure every morning, then quickly offered to marshal both the drop off and pick up closure every day single handed. He has done this in all weathers, from blazing sun to torrential rain and winds.

His dedication has made the scheme possible. We were struggling to find people to help, and his time and dedication to making the road outside school safer, has made a success of the School Street.

The scheme, that Chris’s volunteering has enabled, has had a significant, direct impact locally for the school and wider community. It has made the road outside of school safer for pupils and parents, less congested and calmer.

South England: Commitment to wayfinding

Peter has been a volunteer for nearly 30 years including some years as Bristol North West volunteer group coordinator.

He has been consistently committed to improving cycling through this part of the UK, but has been especially active in the Blaise Castle Estate on NCN4 for decades. This continues to today with recent improvement of signs, and submitting a detailed bid for a major sign in the middle of the estate.

He is a volunteer, who makes a significant and consistent contribution to ensuring Sustrans aims are achieved.

Wales: Ogmore Valley Priide community group

Ogmore Valley Priide, who are a local voluntary group in the Ogmore Valley, have come into their own over the last couple of years. They have done some fantastic work in the Valley, which includes litter picking on the cycle track from Lewistown up to and sometimes including Nantymoel, which is quite an extensive area to cover.

They meet once a week and sometimes with school children in tow, they litter pick around the Valley. They have also put up some makeshift bins along the cycle track in Ogmore, which they empty themselves regularly using a wheelbarrow and in conjunction with the local Council.

The Valley are very lucky to have such a great bunch of dedicated volunteers, who do not mind getting their hands dirty and who always do their very best to keep the Valley tidy. As well as having the time and patience to take out young people with them to educate on the value of not dropping litter.

Margaret Lloyd is the main linchpin of the group along with Paul Williams. Margaret herself is also a member of the Ogmore Valley Community Council, and she is dedicated to trying to keep the Valley, including the cycle track, litter free. It is not always easy or pleasant, but the group persevere.

Wales: Planning application reviews

Ian has been doing periodic searches of valid planning applications via the relevant county council planning portal. The purpose has been to identify purposed development, which could positively or negatively impact existing or proposed active travel networks and/or provide opportunity to promote sustainable travel.

Gwen Thomas, Network development and partnerships manager said: "Ian has been ready to put together comprehensive feedback on applications, allowing Sustrans and the communities we’re helping to benefit from his background in development.

Ian is always ready to help as well as having the insight to move Sustrans’ processes forward for working in this way, supporting us to ask more of local authorities"

Ian will support the recruitment of more volunteers into the planning application review role. Offering his guidance and expertise in the hope that each Local Authority area will have a volunteer feeding back to Sustrans colleagues.