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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.

Annual Meeting this coming Monday

A reminder that our Annual Meeting takes place on Monday 30 April at 7.30pm at the East Ham Working Mens’ Club, Boleyn Road.

Interesting guests, interesting speakers, and there will be light refreshments.

In order to help get the formal business concluded as soon as possible and to stimulate discussion here is a

We hope to see you there.

River Ride Report 21-4-18

Despite having to pull the ride day forward as we were clashing with the marathon we had another good turn out at the View tube on Saturday -with riders from Newham, south London, Elm park and as far afield as Brentwood! 20 of us set off on a very sunny day down the river Lee calling at Three mills & Cody dock.

For a change, after Bow ecology park, we crossed the bridge to London city island and navigated through the new open areas. After a quick visit to East India Dock we followed river through isle of dogs to Greenwich via the foot tunnel -here we picked up another south London cyclist then navigated the extensive diversions to the Thames path stopping for lunch at the cafe under cable cars -here we lost half the group to a local pub, football or gardening! However the rest of us continued along Thames path to Woolwich ferry -some exploring an interesting local Tor viewpoint & the site of the wreck of the Princess Alice boat on the Thames -with the loss of many lives in 1878.

Across the River back in Newham we followed river round to Gallions reach past the new Decathlon shop -offering cyclists free servicing discounts

We then picked up greenway & followed it back entering Olympic park via new ramp leading to Channelsea passage – ending with a welcome beverage at the view tube cafe!

The decision continue to the Tor & shipwreck added a few miles to ride but worth it! (thanks to riders for showing us these!)

We welcomed no mechanical problems this time and that no-one fell in the river!

Many thanks to all who assisted -esp. Arnie & Steve for back marking & Robin as ever for great photos

 

Readout from meeting of 26 March 2018

A turnout of over 20 , including 2 Council Officers and two prospective Councillors participated in an interesting meeting:

  • Murray Woodburn, currently Head of Highways and Traffic  at Newham Council and Richard Wadey, Sustainable Transport Officer, presented Newham Council’s new Cycle Strategy (see earlier post) and answered a wide range of questions on it.  This discussion will inform further analysis planned for the annual report to be presented to the annual meeting on 30 April.
  •  This discussion also informed our further discussion on Living Streets where the emerging priorities (which, for this exercise combine practicality and political attraction) are for areas without through traffic in (a) the north of the Borough, (b) the Freemasons Rd/Custom house area, and (c) Green St area, plus enhancing corridors  (a) the Romford Rd, (b) Barking Rd, (c) Leyton Rd, and (d) A117.
  • The Council’s next LIP bid (for funding for transport projects) is due to be submitted to TfL in September  and there will only be a short time for this to be consulted upon.
  • A follow up audit ride of Stratford Gyratory will be organised.
  • We approved payment of £238.10 for the rebuild by Bill of our “Fix Your Ride” trailer.
  • We had a preliminary discussion of what next years’ budget may look like.
  • Francois Donnard presented the cycling offer  that Decathalon at Beckton was making involving supply of bikes and spares as well as training.  This looked a promising avenue to explore further.
  • Newham council have announced that their partnership for dockless bikes (a pilot of approximately 6 months schemes in West Ham and Royal Docks) will be with Mobike. This is not the LCC preferred supplier.

Arnold

 

 

Much Hadham Ride Report 25.03.18

Given that the clocks had gone forward to BST and everyone had an hour less sleep we had an excellent turnout for this ride. Eighteen of us gathered at Leytonstone to catch the tube to Epping where three more riders awaited our arrival. The weather was clement, 10C and no wind, which was helpful as we were a large group on a slightly longer ride than usual, 37miles riding clockwise around Harlow. The road from Epping to Roydon in Hertfordshire is quite fast, and there was a fair amount of Sunday traffic so it was nice to cross the level crossing at Roydon and enjoy the quiet roads to Hunston and Much Hadam. There we crossed the ford and rode up towards Perry Green and the Henry More foundation, this is where the technical problems started.

 

Arnold’s derailleur sheered off just outside Perry Green. A few of us stayed to help, while the majority rode on for a mile to see the HM foundation and get a coffee. We broke the chain, disconnected and removed the derailleur and shortened the chain, so it became a single speed machine. About to move on and I discover I had a flat, the first of two for me and these deflations were followed by those of two other riders, four punctures in all.

The cafe at the HM Foundation was closed and so we continued with a caffeine deficit. We crossed the M11 and arrived at Sawbridgeworth, where Arnold’s single speed repair finally failed and he took a train home.

 

We followed the Essex lanes to Matching Tye where we had a well deserved lunch at the Fox, the food was good and it was warm enough to eat in the garden for those that chose to. The route back followed Fagotters Lane towards Blake Hall and Toot Hill. We fixed another complicated flat, where the valve broke in the pump, and tackled the final hill to Epping Station in the sun. Overall an eventful ride, but very satisfying that we overcame our problems and enjoyed the day’s riding in the spring countryside in good company.

As always, thanks to Robin for the photos! More can be viewed here:

https://bit.ly/2IdpQLh

& the route here:

https://www.relive.cc/view/g19029313915