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Spokes rides and events

Faversham to Perry Wood
Sunday 6 January
Meet at Faversham Station at 10.30am.
A short ride through the surrounding countryside to lunch at the Rose and Crown, Perry Wood. Suitable for all types of bike. Ride leader: Andrew Wyver

Cycle Friendly Deal - A gathering of local cyclists
10.30am-12pm on Saturday 5 January, Deal Town Hall
Following Deal Town Council’s successful bid for funding from the Government’s Coastal Communities Fund, Cycle Friendly Deal is now up and running and they are organising a gathering for local cyclists. Cycle Friendly Deal would like as many local cyclists - and people who ride bikes but don’t call themselves “cyclists” - to come along to this get together to capture valuable local cycling knowledge and an understanding of the issues Deal cyclists face.
The gathering, will also share the latest project developments and outline ways that cyclists can directly help the project by undertaking surveys, sharing photos and videos, organising rides and events, and potentially establishing a new Deal Cycle Forum.
If you can attend, please let Cycle Friendly Deal know by emailing adrian.oliver@deal.gov.uk with RSVP CYCLISTS GATHERING 5 JANUARY as the email subject.

Spokes objectives

To encourage cycling and publicise its benefits for the community and for individuals.
To ensure that local authority and government policies actively encourage cycling and make full provision for it as part of an overall transport strategy.

This is to ensure that all members of the public can enjoy cheap, safe and environmentally-sound travel for work and leisure.

If you support our objectives, why not join us?

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T he Pilgrimage for Clean Air
Saturday, 29 December, 10.30am - 12 noon
The Canterbury Alliance for Sustainable Transport is organising a ‘pilgrimage for clean air’ to protest against the proposed multi-storey car park at Canterbury West station, call for proper air quality measurement and celebrate Canterbury’s Heritage. It will start by St Dunstan’s Church, where Henry II is said to have begun his penance on his knees to the shrine of Thomas Becket. This pilgrimage marks the anniversary of Thomas Becket’s martyrdom on 29 December in 1170.
Many people will be in fancy dress — as pilgrims — and will be accompanied by musicians. They will stop along the way to hear modern day tales from Canterbury pilgrims who are concerned that breathing in the air containing high levels of PM (particulate matter) and NOx (nitrogen oxide) on the pilgrimage route is harming people’s health. These tales will include the Scrivener’s tale, the Professor’s tale and the Air Quality Scientist’s tale.
The pilgrimage will go along the High Street, past Chaucer’s statue, to the front entrance to the cathedral and then back down to the site of the multi-storey car park by Canterbury West Station.
Far from building on Canterbury’s heritage, this expensive, architecturally-unattractive development will encourage more cars into the centre and will increase air pollution. The council seems unconcerned. It sneaked out a press release on Friday 21 December, presumably in the hope that no one would notice, about work starting towards the end of February and does not measure PM emissions. The press release contained miserable justifications for not including lifts ('The provision of passenger lifts is not a legal requirement ...lifts can create more problems for users if they are not working') and even contained an image showing how pretty the car park is and how much it enhances the neighbourhood, ie

Canterbury is one of the most important historic cities in the world so what happens here sends a message elsewhere. Current plans to build a multi-storey car park close to the medieval city centre are regressive in every way. What people want is sustainable transport, clean air, social inclusion, healthy citizens and a pleasant city to live in and visit.
Organiser Victoria Field says: “We are asking people to come and march, joyfully but purposefully to protest against the multi-storey and to celebrate what we value about our city. Bring banners, wear historic costumes, play musical instruments and show our commitment to creating a cleaner, kinder, contemporary Canterbury.” Professor Jan Pahl, chair of the Canterbury Society, says: “If you care about the air that children breathe or if you care about reducing traffic on our roads come on this pilgrimage.”
Meet at St Dunstan’s Church at 10.30am, march to the Westgate, up the High Street, turn left into Mercery Lane, go along Sun and Orange Streets and past the Marlowe, back down the High Street, up St Dunstan’s, turning right into Station Road West. The pilgrimage will finish in this area.