The theme of our October public meeting was celebrating pedal-powered volunteers, and it was a lively and uplifting exploration of just some of the ways that cycling can help people connect with their communities.

The first speaker was Pheena Kenny, a volunteer marshal with the D12 Bike Bus. The bus is a group of parents and children who cycle together from Crumlin Village to Riverview Educate Together National School every Friday morning, guided by marshals at the front and the back of the bus. The bus gives young children experience of cycling on the road, and the marshals are always delighted to see older ‘graduates’ of the bus cycling independently to school. If you would be interested in helping out with the bus, please email us.

Next up was Fiona Doris, a trishaw pilot with Cycling Without Age. This is an entirely voluntary organisation that enables people who can’t cycle to enjoy the feeling of the wind in their hair by offering free spins on trishaws. If you’d like to get involved, check out the CWA website where you can find your nearest trishaw location.

We then heard from Michelle Hardiman from Bloomin’ Crumlin, a volunteer-run group in Dublin 12 which works to improve and sustain the local environment. Michelle gave an impressive account of she has used bikes and trikes to transport trees, wormeries, gardening tools, and more, to support local greening projects. Every bike is a cargo bike!

Our next speaker was Eric Conroy from the Dolphin’s Barn Canal Biodiversity and Clean-Up Group. The group holds monthly cleanups and advocates to protect the canal’s biodiversity. Bikes are used to transport volunteers, tools, and picnic supplies to the canal, and the group also rescues abandoned bikes from the canal and its banks. Find them on Facebook here.

Lastly we heard from Miren Maialen Samper, a volunteer with Dublin Community Growers and Community Gardens Ireland. Miren spoke about the many benefits that community gardens have for physical and mental health, and outlined how volunteers use bikes to get to events and transport produce. Dublin Cycling Campaign’s annual Community Gardens Cycle has become a highlight of our calendar and has enabled people to visit some of our city’s many beautiful community gardens.

Thank you to all our speakers and to the audience members who contributed to the discussions. The meeting was followed as usual with a couple of drinks and lots of chat in the Acadamy Plaza Hotel Bar.

Our next meeting will take place on Thursday 13 November; put the date in your diary!

Photos by Miren Maialen Samper.