Category: Uncategorized

UPDATE – Evesham Wheelers – setting a direction for the next 5 years 

Reminder:

In December 2024 we published a paper outlining a direction for the club and explaining how we believe the club could develop over the next 5 years or so.  This update explains progress to date. 

We set a vision for the future: As a club, we aspire to bring people together through cycling in the Evesham Vale and surrounding area of outstanding natural beauty. 

To do this, we believe the club’s mission is to: 

1. Provide a regular and highly social leisure activity and a fun way of keeping fit – in body and mind 

2. Provide personal challenges through both formal and informal rides 

3. Provide opportunities for the local community to enjoy cycling, across all age groups 

Everything we do should embody these core values: 

1. Support each other – help, guidance, technical & local knowledge 

2. Respect – for each other and particularly for our volunteers and ride leaders. 

3. Inclusive – with a particular emphasis on communication 
    

So what have we done so far?

Having a clear vision of what we want the club to be is of little use unless it helps us identify and implement practical projects and changes that deliver our aspirations for the club. We outlined 7 areas of work we thought were important to move the club forward. The table below provides a brief update on progress in each area. 

Communications	This work is well underway. One of the early tasks was to define all the ways we communicate as a club and the role of each of the many channels of communication (Facebook, WhatsApp, emails, website, etc.). This has been completed.  The new website is now live and we are adding to the content as we go: There is a new look, a simple structure, updated group riding guidelines, a revitalised calendar of events, a news section with more current content, etc. We are still working on developing a “members only” area and some other functionality.  Your feedback and contribution of news items will help keep it alive.  A new “Whatsapp community” is now live. It links all the club Whatsapp groups and allows everyone to see other Whatsapp groups and join them if they wish.  There is an announcement section and a general chat so that we can keep the actual ride groups focused on ride specific updates.   Linzi L-P has taken on publicity and social media and the level of communication has increased dramatically, with newsletters as needed, event publicity and new events being promoted such as the bike maintenance and ride leader evenings, and quiz evenings.
New Activities and Events	This work has now started.   The thrust of this work is to identify potential new social and riding activities that we could develop for members, with a particular focus on those that would also attract a wider demographic of members.  This work is now just starting and being coordinated by Matt Peck – please contact Matt if you think you could help or contribute ideas.
Age Profile	Early days: The work in this area – aimed at broadening our appeal to younger members particularly – is now being combined with the work on new activities and events.
Partnerships	Up and Running: The initial phase has been to identify a list of potential partners and what the mutual benefits of working with each of them could be, for both them and the club.
Committee Structure and Processes	Well Under Way: This work was started soon after the new committee was appointed in November 2024.  This work aimed to formalize how the new committee would work together and covered basic stuff like meeting agendas, minutes, annual planning and project management.  We are seeing early benefits already, with delivery of improvement in our communications probably being the most significant.   Our 2025 annual plan has been driven more by progressing strategic projects and now needs to move on to a more operational basis for 2026, for example with clearer financial planning.
Finance Policy	No progress yet:  This needs to be progressed in 3Q so we can develop an annual plan for 2026 based on agreed financial policies – simple things such as updating our policy on the appropriate use of club funds, investment of club funds, audit and safeguarding policies, etc.
Risk Management and Compliance – Privacy Policy	Complete: This was completed and launched by email to all club members at the start of 2025.  As a reminder, it outlines the club’s and your individual responsibilities for use and for safeguarding of personal data.

If you would like to help with or contribute ideas to any of these areas of work, please talk to any committee member or email secretary@eveshamwheelers.org.uk explaining your area of interest. 

This year’s Reliability Ride broke recent records

· It was sunny!

· We tripled the level of funds we raised for our club charities compared to 2024.

· Numbers were up for total participants and for total miles ridden.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the new routes and sitting around in the sunshine afterwards at Raphael’s Restaurant, www.hamptonferry.co.uk/restaurant.html. For data enthusiasts, here are a few facts and figures:

Participation:

· Total riders: 57 – up nearly 20% on 2024

· Routes available: 25 miles, 50 miles, 80 miles

· Most popular route: 50 miles (75% of riders did the 50 mile route)

· Least popular route: 25 miles (nobody chose the 25 mile route this year).

Distance Covered:

· Combined mileage ridden: 3270 miles- 28% up on 2024

· Average distance per rider: 57 miles

Fundraising:

· Total raised: £346

· Compared to 2024: Up from £110 (more than a 3x increase!)

A huge thank you to everyone who took part and supported our nominated charities. We’re already looking forward to planning the 2026 event—stay tuned for updates!

A group of 22 cyclists from the club made the trip out to Chipping Campden to Jecca’s House, the home of Campden Home Nursing, to make a donation to this worthy charity.  The Campden Home Nurses provide end-of-life nursing care, bereavement support and counselling services. They provide nursing in patients’ own homes across Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire with a base in Chipping Campden at Jecca’s House.  The club made a donation of 350 pounds, which was well received by their Communication Manager who even donned one of our new club jerseys for the cheque presentation.  Furthermore, they laid on cakes a refreshments for us for which we further contributed another 114 pounds.

Whilst at Jecca’s House we took to opportunity to present our own club member Robin Walker with a cheque for 500 pounds for the Cure Parkinsons charity.  Last year Robin  was part of a team of 22 cyclists taking on a challenge which saw them cycling in Norway from Bodo, the Northernmost city in the world, to Tromso, The cyclists, 14 of which were living with Parkinsons cycled 635km over eight days in August 2024.  In total Robin raised over 3,000 pounds for Cure Parkinsons and is continuing his charitable efforts and this year with a further ride for the same cause but this time in Portugal with an 820km ride from the North to the South of Portugal.  Donations can be made through Just Giving – here.

The donations to our charitable causes come from events such as the Reliability Ride and the Audax Rides that the club holds.  This allows us to give back to the communities in which we regularly cycle and to donations that our club members have a tie to.  Members can propose charitable causes for consideration by contacting the committee, ideally around the time of the club AGM in November each year as this is generally when the decision of the charities is made.

Club Kit

The Club Committee has noticed that the take up of the new club kit has not been high as anticipated. To help the Committee understand why this has been the case and help inform any decisions going forward we have prepared a short survey that we would ask members to complete. The survey is anonymous and should take less than a couple of minutes to fill in.

The survey is located at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7Z6W8TV

Thanks in advance for your input.

EWCC What’s App Community

Over the coming weeks the existing What’s App group used by the club will be migrated into an EWCC What’s App ‘Community’.  As the groups are migrated you may see a slight change in how these are shown in your app but it will make no changes to the individual What’s App groups themselves.  The advantage of moving the various What’s App groups under one Community is that all members will be able to see all the groups that are used by the club and, where wanted and appropriate, are able to request to join the various groups.  This will provide further transparency in the club communications by allowing all members to see the various What’s App groups that are used by the club.

Evesham Wheelers Charity Reliability Ride – 6th April 2025

Reliability rides are non-competitive training (or social) events where participants choose a distance and target time at sign-on, aiming to complete the course as close as possible to their chosen time.

This ride is open to all Evesham Wheelers members, local cycling clubs, and anyone else who would like to join. There are distance and pace options to suit all abilities:

🚴 8:00 AM – 80 miles in 5 hours (16 mph)
🚴 9:00 AM – 50 miles in 4 hours (12.5 mph)
🚴 9:30 AM – 50 miles in 3 hours (16.8 mph)
🚴 10:00 AM – 25 miles in 2 hours 30 minutes (10.1 mph) – Ideal for first-timers
🚴 10:30 AM – 25 miles in 2 hours (12.6 mph)

For more details, visit our website. Evesham Wheelers will not be putting on a Sunday ride on this date.

Evesham Vale Road Race – 100km on Sunday, 16th March 2025

Evesham Wheelers put on the above local race, this event attracts a high-quality field of riders. We need volunteers to assist with marshalling or other event duties, your support would be hugely appreciated.

📍 Location: Inkberrow Circuit
🏁 HQ: Inkberrow Village Hall, Sands Rd, Inkberrow, Worcester WR7 4HJ
🚗 Plenty of free parking and toilet facilities available

The race consists of four and a half laps of a 22km course, making it a challenging yet exciting event for all participants.

Club Membership Fees Due

A quick reminder that annual club fees were due in January. If you haven’t yet renewed, please submit payment as soon as possible to remain an active member.

New Website – We Need Your Feedback!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the club’s new website. Is it easy to navigate? Is there anything you’d like to see improved? Let us know!

Thank you for your continued support,
Evesham Wheelers Committee

Day 1

The time had come to cycle to Wales, Hay on Wye to be precise, meeting up ‘coffee#1’ in Pershore for a 4-day adventure.

As I hate being late for anything I arrived 30 minutes earlier than the advertised time, at least I could have a nice coffee and settle down in the relaxed seats waiting for the others to arrive, everyone turned up on time (Colin, Tom, James, Chris, & Henryk). Drew, who only lives around the corner decided to wait until the last minute to turn up at the coffee house to see if the rain would stop. It did not!

Brief introductions over, Liquid refreshments finished, and we were on our way, it was very wet on the road, but the group soon got into a rhythm staying more or less together with the grumblings about the rain being the main topic of conversation, time passed accompanied by the constant squealing of disc brakes!

After a few hours on the road and a couple of refreshment breaks later, we were at Baskerville house, time for a clean-up, shower, and a quick hose down of the bikes, before dinner and beers.

Mileage for me that day was approximately sixty-three miles, including four thousand feet of climbing.

Day 2

After a great night’s sleep, Tuesday’s weather looked dry and & slightly warmer so after a fantastic breakfast we all ventured out on the bikes- it was hilly, and soon most of us were using our smallest gears, double-digit percentage gradients were the norm in this part of the country, it’s funny how everyone stops talking when you go uphill! The downhills were equally fantastic and exhilarating. Following a couple of breaks throughout the ride we were heading back to Baskerville for dinner and beverages.

Mileage that day, was forty-eight, including three thousand four hundred feet of climbing.

Day 3 – The big one. The Gospel Pass – Wales’s Highest Road.

I can’t comment much on this one as I had developed a small back issue (yes, I know what you’re thinking!) as the rest of the crew cycled off in the morning sun, I took a day of rest & waited for the magnificent 6 to return, more beers & dinner followed while listening to the day’s tales, with a slightly envious feeling.

No Henryk had not fallen off the edge, he was taking the picture!

Please note that 2 VIPs (John & Pam) joined us to enjoy a couple of drinks.

Day 4

Leaving Baskerville house

After another great breakfast, we said our goodbyes to the brilliant staff & set off on the final leg of our adventure. There was no flat route back, but the weather held up and a couple of leisurely coffee stops later we were back home safely.

Mileage for the day, seventy-four miles with four thousand feet climbing on sore legs!

Things to note.

• Amazingly no punctures in the group over the 4 days (a combination of luck & the heavy rain which seemed to have washed all the hedge cuttings away).
• One broken wheel rim, and potentially a cracked titanium frame while enjoying the government-maintained roads in Hay on Wye.
• Baskerville House accommodation, I give the facility five out of five stars, I enjoy the quirkiness and personable service.
• Big thanks to Colin for organizing the event along with the transport provided to get the kit down & back to and from Baskerville house to make it happen.
• And finally, to a fantastic bunch of riders (listed above), whose comradery and cheer made the event enjoyable for all of us.

https://www.baskerville-house.com/