Many of the active members of Cycling Hillingdon are also active within Hillingdon Friends of the Earth. This local group have been responsible for organising and running the Hillingdon Cleaner Greener Festival which took place on Saturday the 19th of September in Uxbridge.
We had our own stand at the event, and indeed were more than just a stand, we were part of the Cycling Cluster alongside Bikewise and Assembly.
Bikewise is an Ickenham-based cycle shop ready to help you with all your cycling needs. They also maintain the local Dott electric hire bikes. A couple of unsuspecting youngsters who were illegally riding a Dott bike (which can only be hired and ridden by adults, and require payment) got a shock when they briefly stopped and the bikes were locked by a vigilant Bikewise staff member!
Assembly is a Hackney-based manufacturer of modular cargo bikes, and it was great to speak to founder Jim Lowe who had a fair amount of interest from local passers by intrigued by the possibilities of the bike for their local businesses.
Jim used the opportunity to test a production cargo bike and trailer (pictured above) which he rode all the way from Hackney Wick to Uxbridge. Having done a full day at the festival he was about to get back on his bike and ride all the way back to Hackney, a round trip of 50 miles. Luckily this bike was an electric version and had enough range to make the trip a bit more manageable.
For our own part, a sunny day saw us have many conversations with the bike-curious and a dozen more people signed up to receive our monthly newsletter.