Wanted: Marshals for Ealing Skyride, 18 July

This is nothing to do with me but might be useful for those who want to increase their marshalling experience. Free lunch but no payment.

As you may already know Sky ride is back on Sunday 5th September! We are also delighted to say that it is also going to TWO London boroughs as well! Sunday July 18th will see Sky ride Ealing and Sunday August 15th will see us take Sky ride to Redbridge.

We are very excited about getting Sky ride into more London boroughs so that more Londoners can experience the thrill of cycling in their local area on closed roads and hopefully inspire everyone who doesn't cycle often or at all, to use their bikes more often and promote a positive image of cyclists as road users. To make each event a success we need to provide well marshalled Guided Rides and this is where we are asking for your help - we are looking for committed marshals who will help support the our Lead Riders on each of the events.

You will need to be available for the whole day between approx 9am - 5pm, to help escort one of led rides from neighbouring boroughs into the traffic free route and then back home again.

Once again the dates are

July 18th – Ealing
August 15th – Redbridge
September 5th – London

We will be providing online training tools and as last year we will also be providing a dedicated marshal lounge for each event with free lunch. Full details of how the day will unfold will be sent to you via email once you have confirmed your availability.
Please email skyrides@london.gov.uk and let us know your availability for each of the events.

http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=info&page=evskyride007.htm

Religious leaders unhappy about arrangements

   This Sunday sees a mass cycle ride in Ealing  with many roads closed to traffic. Thousands are expected to attend as  they did in Hounslow last year but the arrangements for Ealing's SkyRide  have been criticised.
   Local residents and religious leaders have  complained to the Mayor that there has not been enough consultation  leading up to Sunday's event. We reprint an open letter from Reverend Graham Weeks from the    International Presbyterian Church, Ealing.

Dear Mr. Mayor,

   I write concerning the Mayor of London’s Skyride  in Ealing this coming Sunday.
   I cycled regularly in London from my  undergraduate days in Bloomsbury in the Sixties until the Nineties when I  was a Conservative councilor in this borough for eight years. Commuting  by cycle was healthier, cheaper and usually quicker than by motorised  public or private transport.
   But I never expected roads to be closed for me,  parking suspended, buses diverted and other people inconvenienced so  that I could cycle with fewer safety concerns.
   I have in the past few days spent several hours  ascertaining how the congregation of our church will be able to get to  our meeting place off The Park. Public information has been very sparse  for those of us who live outside the Skyride area but wish to travel  into it to worship. I have had to search the websites of Skyride, Ealing  Council and Transport for London to find information, which has  sometimes been unclear and contradictory. I have had to phone the town  hall so that a disabled member can drive to church and park there. Hers  will be the only car in the car park. The rest of the motoring  congregation will have to find spaces on streets crammed with  displacement parking.
   There has been to my knowledge no consideration  given neither to the needs of worshipping Christians nor to those  businesses operating on Sunday. I hope It has not escaped your notice  that there is Sunday trading these days as well as Christian worship.  Tell me Mr. Mayor, would you close roads around a mosque on a Friday  without telling the Imam? So why this secularist and anti-business  approach to this coming Sunday in Ealing?
   You, sir, will not I trust have forgotten how  your predecessor in the office of mayor lost many votes in this borough  with his unlamented failed plan for trams along the Uxbridge Road. Do  you really think that Skyride will be a vote winner? 
   Yours faithfully,
   The Reverend Graham Weeks
    (Chairman of the Borough of Ealing Environment Committee  1992-93.)
   P.S. I will be informing Sky that if they  continue to inconvenience me in this way they will lose my custom like  you will lose my vote.

Does anyone else think the skyride tv advert is a bit weird? the people look a bit...well, photoshopped

That's how people look in London's Famous West London.