We joined our colleagues at Hillingdon Friends of the Earth at the Ickenham Festival on Saturday 13th June, 2026, luckily on a beautiful sunny day.
A procession from Swakeley’s Park was headed by the Hillingdon FoE 4 wheeled bike, and followed by 3 of us on regular bikes, plus Jess in her VanRaam Opair wheelchair tandem bike which really was a star of the day.
We managed to sign up a number of new people to our mailing list on the day and had some great conversations, including one with a former police officer who worked in Hillingdon and patrolled the area on his bike. I aimed to interview him, but lost track of time, so will follow up in the coming months!
As we were packing away, I noticed one of our number deep in discussion with two local councillors, one of whom was Steve Tuckwell, now Leader of Hillingdon Council. A useful 10 minute conversation was had on our West Ruislip station bridge ideas and the issues we have previously written about in accessing the Grand Union towpath in West Drayton.
If we have the support of the local councillors, and the council leader, we may be able to proceed to the next step in bidding for funding to improve safety on and around the bridge from the HS2 community fund.
We’ll keep you updated on our progress.