These are some of the activities that took place in 2024 alongside all the free social rides every month throughout the year which involved riders aged 5 to 81. Four evenings of bike related storytelling sessions with about 200 people in the audiences across those sessions listening to stories from 16 folks. When asked for feedback the audiences used these words: inspiring, entertaining, uplifting, friendly, warm, wholesome, informative, eye opening, adventurous and diverse. We use a local bike shop to host our evenings. A weekend ‘Forest Folklore Event’ at the local YHA for 25 ‘guests’ providing guided rides with storytelling and connection with the Forest and each other. Made possible with a Grant from Outdoor Citizens. Feedback from attendees mentioned the welcoming atmosphere, the sense of inclusion, the nurturing environment, feeling part of a community, the learning about the New Forest, the feelings of cycling slowly and being present in the Forest and the freedom, stillness and peace. There were 4 bike mechanics sessions run at Bournemouth, led by a woman mechanic from a local bike shop. Thanks to a Cycling UK Grant, there were 7 Confidence and Connection guided rides from Brockenhurst and Bournemouth, plus 3 Bike Safety sessions. What’s been really good to see is the impact of those supported events, with folks attending now more confident in coming along to larger social rides or setting off on their own. We ran another very successful ‘bike and seek’ event and continued running online courses- How to Build Community, How to Build Coalitions and How to Tell Your Story. The audience for these courses is spread nationally and internationally. 10 people attended 2 day outdoor first aid training with New Forest First Aid adding qualified folks out on our rides. 5 people attended 2 day Level 2 MTB leadership raining at Coed y Brenin with Pedal MTB. There was a mechanics workshop weekend held at the Countryside Education Trust, Beaulieu led by a woman mechanic. We are committed to supporting women led business where possible and supporting local venues. Our qualified guides supported at an off road cycle weekend event, led a Year 5 school group, designed and delivered bespoke 1:1 confidence building sessions for individuals, put on an event for Forestry England National marketing and comms team and took a group out across the Purbecks. Ride Leaders and members of our Community presented at The Verderers Court in support of Forestry England’s proposal for an improved cycle network. We donated £100 to PedAll, an inclusive cycling project in the New Forest Directors attended New Forest Cycle Working Group meetings, presented at Forestry England’s National Cycle Group conference and were part of Project FIAS , a research project addressing gender inequality in mountain biking.

Our stakeholders are those who attend our rides, those who attend our online events and those who attend our in ‘real life’ events. Plus a wider community of stakeholders that follow us digitally. We communicate via monthly newsletters ( to over 700 subscribers), have social media accounts ( being followed by over 7000 followers), host a website and respond to email enquiries. We get informal verbal feedback from our social rides form those taking part at the end of each ride. We got written feedback via a questionnaire from our Forest Folklore Event guests and verbal feedback from our organising team. All of that feedback will be used for any future event planning and it was used in supporting a presentation to Forestry England and was also given to the body that awarded the Grant. We got written feedback from attendees via email for our early storytelling events which was used to deliver future ones. We got written feedback from attendees on our online courses which is used to keep evolving those. We got feedback comments/quotes from attendees to our mechanics workshops which is used to inform future planning of similar events. More events like this have been requested.

No remuneration was received

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration