Partners

When we were looking for a main supplier for our bikes we not only needed them to have a broad selection of bikes for most ages/abilities but we also needed them to be affordable.

Another major consideration was that they needed to be reliable, as you will appreciate the last thing we wanted our bikes to do was breakdown whilst we are holding sessions.

Giant bikes have been everything we wanted and more and we sincerely thank John at Giant for the superb relationship that we have built.

Keeping our bikes running is essential as we need people to experience as many bikes as possible and GT85 certainly is a great lubricant that keeps our bikes running smoothly.

Major users of GT85 include Virgin Airlines, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes Benz and now Crank it Up Cycling for All, we are in superb company. We are grateful to GT85 for their support and the superb way they do so.

Transporting our bikes is crucial to our work, sometimes this is via vans sometimes via trailers but when we have two sessions on one day at different locations or we do cycle training or go mountain biking we need to carry them in a different way.

Thule provides us with a really safe way to transport our bikes and in a very stylish way.

Fashionable and safe transportation of our bikes with a friendly Company, what more can we ask?

When we asked our volunteers and mechanics which tools they preferred there was only one name, Park Tools.

Their range and quality of tools speaks for themselves and helps us keep our many different types of bikes running. Many Companies benefit from relationships with American Companies and if Park Tools are a typical example then we can see why.

Despite being many, many miles away they are only at the end of a phone and always seem pleased to help.

SUSTRANS have developed 1000’s of miles of traffic free cycle ways that provide all cyclists with a safe and interesting areas to cycle.

They also produce some really informative information on not only these cycleway’s but also why you should cycle.

We regularly transports bikes to the value of £5,000 and need to ensure their security, hence we need a good lock and chain.

Sterling locks and chains secure all our bikes during transportation and when they are stored.

Their variety is superb and they have a lock and chain for most purposes and budgets.

Their service is one of the best that we have come across and this has helped build a great relationship.

Sovereign Makes the “Difference”…..
With over £1 million of charitable donations in the last three years Sovereign Health Care has underwritten community projects, medical and specialist equipment, hospital training and research awards which have made a real difference to many people’s lives throughout the U.K.

We are grateful and pleased that Sovereign has, on several occasions helped support our cycling and health work, especially in trying to fight obesity. If only there were far more Companies like Sovereign voluntary work would be so much easier.

Small Change, Big Difference, the Society makes it easy for members to support the work of the Foundation through the 'Small Change, Big Difference' scheme.

By agreeing to donate the pennies in interest accrued on their accounts, members are able to help many good causes.

The maximum annual donation for mortgage and savings accounts will never exceed 99 pence - but even this small amount, when added up and multiplied by hundreds of thousands of members, does make a difference! Since its first donation in 1999 the Foundation has given away over £2 million, over 3,000 good causes have received a donation, in 2005, over £300,000 was donated to over 420 good causes, over 75% of the donations made in 2005 were nominated by the Society's members.

We have been fortunate in having the Yorkshire Building Society support our work on several occasions, not only that they are really nice people.

The Community Champions Fund was set up to help people who can inspire others to get more involved in renewing their neighbourhoods through participation in community groups. The Community Champions Fund has two main objectives:

• to increase the skills levels of individuals to enable them to act as inspirational figures, community entrepreneurs, community mentors, community leaders or community anamateurs; and
• to improve the involvement of communities in regeneration and learning activity by supporting key individuals who can drive forward community projects and pass on their expertise to others in their community and to other communities.

Community Champions has helped some of our volunteers gain the equipment that they need to work in the Community as well as paid for valuable training. Without Organisations like Community Champions people would often struggle with the funding, training and mentoring that they require to work within Communities.

Sadly the vast majority of cycle training in schools takes place in the playground and it would be fair to say that this does not prepare many youngsters for cycling on the roads and the high congestion associated with this.

The last information that we have is that a worrying trend for the future is that, because of perceived road danger the number of children allowed by their parents to ride their bikes on local roads has fallen dramatically in a generation from 75% to 20%.

We are working with the Bradford City Teaching PCT to provide Primary Schools within their area on road cycle training to National Standards.

More and more publicity is highlighting the growing trend of obesity and Bradford North PCT has kindly provided some of the funding for our cycling work towards combating obesity.

Cycling is a popular activity with many young people, so why not build on this to help fight obesity.

We regularly hear of the long term health problems associated with obesity and this means a growing demand on Primary Care Trusts budgets over the coming years, the more people who cycle regularly the fitter they are and hopefully the less they will weigh.