Bigfoot Go-Ride was set up in March 2009, and is a parent-led cycling club for 7 to 14 year olds. The club is run by a team of volunteer cycling enthusiasts whose only reward is the satisfaction of seeing more young people get involved in cycling. We have a number of regular coaches and helpers (many of them are parents of club members) who are listed below.
Coaches:
Spencer Harradine
Phil Shemmings
Jason Meers
Lisa Meers
Saif Haque
Michael Chambers
Helpers:
Sandra Eder (Club Welfare Officer)
Tony Eder
Adam Shepherd
Peter Ogden
Jawid Zaman
Committee
The administration of the club is carried out by a voluntary committee, which is elected each year by club members. Club members fall into three categories: (i) the children who ride at the club; (ii) their parents, carers or guardians; and (iii) those otherwise involved in running the club. The way that the club is run and structured is set out in the club constitution, which can be downloaded here (PDF format).
Chair: Spencer Harradine
Vice Chair: Saif Haque
Secretary: Sandra Eder
Treasurer: Phil Shemmings
Why ‘Bigfoot’?
Bigfoot Go-Ride is the ‘junior branch’ of Bigfoot Bike Club, a local bike club which takes its name from Bigfoot Bikes, our local bike shop in Hayes Village.
How it all started
Bromley Cyclists, the local group of the London Cycling Campaign, became aware in the autumn of 2008 that children going through the Council’s extensive Bikeability cycle training lacked inspiration and role models to encourage continued cycling very long afterwards.
So Bromley Cyclists decided to create a children’s cycle club network across the borough, adopted the British Cycling Go-Ride programme and developed a working partnership with British Cycling, applied for grants from the Community Cycling Fund for London and Sport Unlimited (Cycling England), and recruited the first volunteer coaches from local cycling club Bigfoot Bike Club and Bromley Cyclists’ own membership.
The funders thought the programme was ambitious, but four local clubs, spread across the borough, were started in 2009. The effort was rewarded by being short-listed for a Smarter Travel Award by Transport for London and talked about across the city and even further afield as a model for encouraging cycling in an outer borough.
