One of favourite stops, the Sustainability Centre, is planning to transform their 'tired, old, inefficient MoD building' into an eco-friendly, state-of-the-art New Learning Centre.
Update: They've already raised £21,500 towards the £25,000 they need to apply for planning, so they just trying to raise the last £3,500. We can earn them commission at no cost to us when we buy online at popular stores like Amazon, John Lewis and many more! It all works through Give as You Live.
More details at www.sustainability-centre.org/christmaspresents, or go directly, www.giveasyoulive.com/join/sustainabilitycentre, where you'll see them under their official charity name, Earthworks Trust. But of course they'd love any other donations as well.
I hadn't realised just how much they do, from education for schools, universities, teacher training, to camping, bee-keeping, recycling, ecology, forestry, nature, and lots more. Our cafe visits barely scratch the surface. And if the hill-climb to get there is too much for any of us one day, they can even do us a green burial 🙂
It's a big, high-profile, multi-million pound project
that will need big funding from the lottery and other sources. And that could help unlock funding for better cycling routes to get there.
They've asked informally for our input on cycle parking. And unusually, in advance! They know we don't like wheel-manglers, but what would we like? We've said cyclists like to be able to keep an eye on their bikes, but it would be a shame to despoil such a beautiful site with ugly steel sheffield stands.
On our coast-to-coast at Whitehaven, we could have locked to leaping stainless steel salmon. Elsewhere, we've locked to beautiful sculptures.
So my challenge to Portsmouth CTC is to come up with something more imaginative, maybe more artistic? Something we'd be proud to use in future. Over to you!
I attended Mike’s very simple and dignified funeral service yesterday. Many riders remember Mike as a most pleasant, calm and friendly ride colleague – never tired or grumpy at the route taken and encouraging riders who might have been a bit tired and struggling at the end of the ride. His bike was always in immaculate condition. He'd often be asked about his 'new' bike only to be told he'd had it for ages.
Mike joined the Navy as a Marine Engineer and served 22 years for pension, during which time he got an Open University degree in mathematics and became a school teacher up to A level standard. Unfortunately after some years he got throat cancer which affected his voice and he had to stop teaching. He then worked in the accounts department of John Lewis for some years. Some 10 years ago he contracted leukaemia but was cured and in remission until 18 months or so ago when it returned.