May 2018 – Newham Cyclists

Newham Ride 27 May 2018

A goodly band, including a contingent from south of the River, set out without any expectation of avoiding at least one thunderstorm.

In the event we were blessed (as usual) with good weather and those that lasted to the end finished hot, but dry; all without mechanical mishap.

The ride was just over 16 miles around Newham with one small diversion to Trinity Buoy Wharf on the Tower Hamlets side of the mouth of the River Lea.

The intention was to pick up on some of the places of interest missed out in previous local rides. What was remarkable was the scale of development along the Thames, from City Island to Gallions Reach. Indeed the new developments at Thames Barrier Park made it a difficult task to thread our way to the park.

Lets hope Newham ends up with a proper Thameside path!

Arnold

Readout from May 2018 Monthly Meeting

This was held on 21 May to avoid a bank holiday. In the evening sunshine we took a quick ride around the rat runs of Manor Park, between the Romford Road and East Av/Plashet Grove, either side of High Street North, leaving time for discussion in the garden of the Golden Fleece afterwards.

On Manor Park, Adam suggested how through traffic could be stopped by point road closures leaving groups of streets accessible (each group shown as the same colour on this map):

We decided to-

discuss the problem and possible solutions with Newham Council’s Sustainable Transport Officer and Newham Living Streets;
invite ideas for possible solutions. If you have ideas or would like to participate in developing ideas please get in touch, by 10 June, to newham@lcc.org.uk and ratrunningssshm@gmail.com);
continue to raise awareness of local residents, schools etc;
inform the new local councillors.

We discussed how to run our Freecycle feeder ride on 28 July. We are looking at a new route. Marshals are needed. If you can help and have not already indicated please let me know on newham.lcc.org.uk again by 10 June.

We were not impressed with the plans for Q6 Temple Mill Lane/Leyton Rd jucntion and will be renewing our objections. It is imperative that the quietways reach an decent quality. otherwise they will waste public money on infrastructure that will not attract cyclists.

We decided to run a programme of Councillor Rides to reinforce with our new Council the potential of and benefits from cycling in Newham.

Out third cycle of bike maintenance and ride with Ambition, Aspire, Achieve goes ahead over teh next two Saturdays.

Arnold

Brewery ride report 19/5/18

11 of us set of from view tube on a gloriously sunny day forgoing the royal wedding for a tour of east end breweries – with only the ride leader dressing for the occasion (thanks Anita for loan of bridal headgear!) We past Mason & co (tap room for Five points brewery) and looked down on Westfield (home of tap east brewery) before meeting up with two other riders at Pretty Decent brewery in Forest gate (& a quick refreshment stop!) we then skirted Wanstead flats to travel north to Wild card & Pillars breweries for a lunch stop (taking in the amazing ‘gods own junkyard’ and ‘the big al’ beer & cider shop on same estate) we then headed east taking in a few breweries before stopping for a thirst quencher at London Fields brewery tap room.

With only one slight off road tumble (not beer related!) and one puncture -unfortunately as in rear wheel of a brompton the rider left us at that point -mechanically the ride otherwise went well!

Passing new breweries sites of Margade Boxcar & Pit cue we headed back east to end at Howling hops/ crate breweries where group split before returning to Olympic park (some even made it back for the cup final! )

Thanks to Nigel & Steve for pics

Steves Photos

May Monthly Meeting

This will take place a week earlier than usual to avoid a bank holiday, on 21 May.

We will be doing a short fact finding ride of some rat runs in Manor Park

Start at the golden Fleece, Capel Rd at 7.30 pm and we will return there for discussion of our findings and other current topics – weather permitting in the garden.

Arnold

Call the Midwife Ride Report

After the inclement weather of the previous day, it was great to see 15 ladies gather at the View Tube (8 of us having ridden together from Forest Gate at the WI ‘collection point’). Our glamorous ride leader Anita briefed us on the route before we set out along the Greenway & down the Lee Navigation, leaving at Bow to cross the A12 via the underpass and head into the streets of Poplar.

Of course, it also featured a tea stop by the Museum of Docklands and a lunch stop on Pepper Street!

Like all good tour guides, Anita saved the gem of the tour until last. The real ‘Nonnatus House’ – actually St Frideswide Mission House on Lodore Street (sadly now flats), where we could peer down a gated alley to see where the midwives bicycles would have been stored!

Readout from Annual Meeting

A lively Annual Meeting, with refreshment, was held at the East Ham Working Mens Club on 30 April 2018. A turnout of 24 members and guests heard an interesting presentation by Dr Rachel Aldred, an LCC Trustee, on cycle safety. She has undertaken a study which examined the various factors contributing to cycle safety such s the nature of the roads, the amount of traffic, the presence of bus lanes, speed limits and the number of cyclists. One of her findings was that safety improved with a 20mph speed limit irrespective whether it was enforced or not.

This finding was complemented by Jeremy Leach from Living Streets London and 20’s Plenty who provided an optimistic view of recent developments including forthcoming speed limiters for buses.

Gerard Bailey, Chairman of Bike from Boleyn, thanked us for our contribution to the successful ride of thee previous day.

In addition to the matters raised in the report (see earlier post):

Newham Cyclists and Living Streets Newham jointly met with the (now) Mayor of Newham, at her invitation; she subsequently pledged to submit a bid to TfL for a Low Traffic Neighbourhood.
Some residents in Manor Park are now wanting to take action against rat-running . We will seek to assist.

On the business side the following Officers were elected for 2018-19:

Joint co-ordinators, Kerena Fussell and Arnold Ridout
Treasurer, Bill Bremner
Infrastructure Rep, Olawale Ajibola
Ride co-ordinator, Steve Smith.

The Accounts for 2017-18, the Budget for 2018-19 and the Annual Report (see earlier post) were all approved.

Arnold

Bike from Boleyn Ride 29 April 2018

Our crack team of marshals was out in force to guide 70 riders (including a large contingent of children and their parents from Central Park School) from the Boleyn Statue to the London Stadium and back. Some used dockless bikes provided by Mobikes.

Stephen Timms MP was amongst the riders as well as local councillors.

Most children also enjoyed a session of football training from the West Ham Foundation at the Community Track.

The Newham Recorder has a full page spread (not yet available on line)

Unsolicited feedback was extremely positive. A very successful event in partnership with the Bike from Boleyn organisation which demonstrated the value of the Greenway for getting around Newham.

Thanks also to Newham Council for providing a Dr Bike, facilitating the dockless bikes, and opening the big gates on the Greenway.