FEL Scotland wins national Cycle Advocacy Award
FEL Scotland was the winner of the Cycle Advocacy category at the Bike Biz awards in Birmingham earlier this month.
The win was awarded by a panel of judges and recognises organisations, initiatives or individuals who are championing cycling across the UK. FEL was represented by Active Travel Project Coordinator Ryan Flaherty and Senior Project Officer Drew Taylor.
“We travelled down from Scotland just pleased to be short-listed, but not expecting to win. We were blown away to receive the award on the night, especially considering the quality of the competition in our category,” said Ryan.
“This feels like recognition of the work we are so pleased to be able to carry out, helping advocate for cycling and active travel in Forth Valley.”
Nominees were evaluated on key areas including positive industry impact, the originality, creativity and distinctiveness of their approach to cycling advocacy, and the specific and significant outcomes, successes or milestones achieved by their advocacy efforts in the last year.
“For over 15 years, the BikeBiz Awards has served as a key event for the recognition of the very best talent from across the UK cycling scene. The Awards offer an array of expertly-curated categories, designed to reflect the vibrant nature of the sector, and most importantly puts the decision-making power in the hands of industry professionals and cycling enthusiasts,” said Richard Setters, Head of Sales at BikeBiz and micromobilitybiz.
FEL runs Active Schools Hubs in 9 schools across the region with embedded permanent officers in school each week delivering led-rides, bike maintenance workshops, and more. Success at some of their hubs has seen cycling rates of 9 times the national average in the school community.
They were also recognised for their Bike Buddies scheme, which last year saw them gift 350 brand new bikes, complete with locks, lights and helmets, to P7 children in Clackmannanshire and Falkirk. The scheme is expanding again this year to include more schools and more children.
FEL is also the owner of Scotland’s largest ebike lending library scheme. They have low-cost and free loans on offer for the community and visitors alike, which includes a fleet of adaptive bikes as well as ecargo bikes and high-quality ebikes.
The judges were effusive in their praise of the charity’s efforts. Neil Cousins, Media and Sponsorship manager at Silverfish, said: “FEL Scotland provides an outstanding service for cycling in Scotland. Their breadth of work to make cycling accessible is both staggering and impressive.”
FEL is currently building bikes and visiting primary schools to match P7 to their new bikes as Bike Buddies continues. Their ebike library is open year-round and easy to book online.
