Our Learning Development Centre at Sifoe Senior Secondary School ends this year on two high points.

World Wide Web
Our Centre, headed by jole rider Gambia Director Mr Saidu Gbla, is now connected to the Internet.
jole rider's Gambian and UK partner schools will use this connection to work together on joint curriculum projects.
They will also use it to exchange stories, photos, ideas and much more in the year ahead. 

Institute of Physics Partnership
In December jole rider and the UK's Institute of Physics conducted a series of training workshops for Gambian science teachers.
The Teacher Development workshops were hosted at our Learning Development Centre and Sifoe Senior Secondary School.
The training comprised the first phase of the IOP's Physics for Development programme in The Gambia.
This programme dovetails with the Gambian Education Ministry's objectives to place a much needed focus on science teaching.

The workshops, delivered to more than 30 science teachers from more than 15 schools, were led by:
Laurie Mansfield, IOP International Coordinator 
Steve Atyeo and Saidu Gbla of jole rider and
Jide Johnson, Head of Science at Sifoe Senior Secondary School

The training was reported in the Gambian media
We will have more news on this story in the New Year.

 

Bacon butties and soup warmed the hearts [and pockets] of buyers and sellers at jole rider’s My Bike Jumble.
Thank you Gillian for running our on-site kitchen and food stall.

Our first ever My Bike Jumble was held last Saturday at Stanton St Quintin in support of bikes4Africa.
The event was a stonking success, with many bargains being picked up.

We were amazed that people came from Cardiff, Dorchester and even London to browse and buy from our huge array of bike goodies.
On sale we had all kinds of bikes, bike bits, bike add-ons and much more.
The “Bend Down Boutique” also did good business in cycling clothes and shoes with shoppers rummaging through our boxers.

My Bike Jumble will be a regular event supporting bikes4Africa, held every month on the Second Saturday.
Our next will be on Saturday 14 January from 10.00am until 1.00pm.
Sellers welcome at 9.00am but please call to book your place.
We have masses of space for buyers and sellers and are sure the next event will be even bigger and better.
We look forward to seeing you there!

Check out our websites for details or phone David on 0870 609 2007.
See us also at Bristol Mud Dock.

 

On the last Wednesday of 2011 we will have our End Of Year Celebration.
We will be loading our 6th container of the year with bikes, books and education resources for African schools.

And the highlights of 2011 which we will be celebrating include...

1.   Launching Badge-A-Bike : our Virtual Gift to support bikes4Africa
     Connecting our Learning Development Centre in The Gambia to the World Wide Web
     Running our first Teacher Development Workshops for Gambian teachers
     Holding our first My Bike Jumble : these will now be held every month
     Gaining the support of journalist and broadcaster Jon Snow
     A visit from Jim Moulson, President, Rotary International Britain and Ireland [RIBI]
     Loading our Silver Jubilee Container in July [that was our first 25 containers away!]

So, if you’d like to take a well-earned break from the effort of eating mince pies and watching TV, why not come and join us at the Container Loading? [Between eating more mince pies, and raising a glass or two, we might have you loading a few bikes too.]


Another special bike gets loaded

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new Badge-A-Bike Virtual Gift.

As well as an ethical gift, Badge-A-Bike is an opportunity to directly transform a child’s life.

Your PERSONAL message is placed on a badge.
The NUMBERED badge is affixed to a bike.
The bike is delivered to a NAMED school in Africa.

Badge-A-Bike is a special and simple Gift for a Birthday, Anniversary or Christmas

To change a child's life costs just £60 

This exciting new initiative is supported by journalist and broadaster Jon Snow 

 

 

 

As our Bike Mechanic/Engineer you will be a very special person!  You will not only know a bike from back to front and inside out, but will have latent capabilities that we will want to uncover, enabling you to grow as a team member acquiring more responsibilities over time.  Juggling different tasks across our range of education programmes will be a feature of the role. As our engineer you will be Cytech qualfied, have an ability to train others and can expect to travel in the UK, Europe and Africa. 
Top notch personal skills and communication skills are essential.
Please contact David at jole rider for more information.

  

Vodafone’s World of Difference programme, enabling charities to employ new people, opens soon.

If you’d like to apply to join jole rider for 2 – 4 months as a paid team member in the UK, and gain valuable experience of working for a charity,
please register your interest on the World of Difference website and follow the instructions when the programme opens.

If you have an idea for a project which you believe you could lead as part of our team, please email us telling us how you think you can make a
World of Difference to our education work.
Your project will need to be completed in 2 months [full time] or 4 months [part time]. 

Challenging weather conditions caused an extremely difficult decision this week.

High winds sweeping parts of the country, coupled with health concerns, meant that on reaching Ironbridge on Day 03 of LE JOLE 2011, jole rider had no choice but to cancel this ride for Eddie’s health and safety.

Eddie Sedgemore, aged 69, left Land’s End on Saturday to begin his epic 2011 mile cycle ride to John O’Groats and all the way back to Land’s End in just 22 days.  Eddie was doing this mammoth bike ride to raise funds for jole rider so that more African children can get to school by bike.

We are all bitterly disappointed and none more so than Eddie himself, who was very difficult to convince that cancellation was in his best interests.

On a positive note, Eddie is raring to go again.  This man will not be restrained! 
We have spoken with our corporate sponsors about this and all have expressed their enthusiasm to support Eddie in achieving his goal. 

In addition, all the Rotary Clubs we are connected with along his route share the very same ambition to support the endeavour.
They all wish to remain involved when Eddie has a second go.

Eddie and ourselves have pinpointed Sat 12 May 2012 for his second attempt to beat his Guinness World Record.

We have, however, added another mile to the distance as a penalty for the delay.
The ride next year will be called LE JOLE 2012, the target being 2012 miles instead of the comfortable 2011 this year!
We have sealed the Donations Bottle and will carry over the cash donations received until we open the bottle again next May.
Eddie's fundraising page on JustGiving will also remain open for donations until after his ride next May.

This time we will be inviting company for Eddie. 
An invitation will be issued to all those that might like to join Eddie on the ride.  That might be for a complete End2End of 1000 miles or for just a day’s ride between overnight stops.
Keep watch on Charity Bike Rides for news.

So, from Eddie and jole rider, a great big Thank You to everyone, including all the Rotary Clubs and Rotarians, who supported Eddie on his epic journey and particulary all our corporate supporters and suppliers of his hi-tech equipment, which included...
The terrific Storck Raddar electric bike..
SatMap which guided Eddie through the twisting country Lanes..
Sport-Cam which recorded the high points of Eddie’s ride from the handlebars..
Retrieva Tracking device which meant we knew where Eddie was every moment of the day

All these devices performed brilliantly for Eddie, unlike the weather of course! 

 

Please take a look at the other images from Eddie’s ride on flickr

 

Our man Eddie Sedgemore this week took possession of his flying machine, otherwise known as a Storck Multitask.
Eddie will soon be seen out riding the bike in South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, but don’t blink – you might miss him!

A big thank you to Ian Hughes, Managing Director of Storck Raddar.
Ian brought the Storck all the way from Gateshead and will be cycling with Eddie for 2 day stages of the epic LE JOLE 2011  route.
Eddie will also be joined by other fellow travellers – watch this space!

Helping to try out the Storck for speed:
Les Sedgemore, Steve Atyeo, Eddie, Ian Hughes, Helen King and Owen Coutts

We at jole rider are all thrilled that we have another opportunity to benefit from support from Vodafone.

Having been selected by Vodafone’s World of Difference programme earlier this year to become part of jole rider’s team, Tony Oliver is now about to apply for the Vodafone Foundation’s Grahame Maher Award. 

If Tony wins this award, jole rider will receive a grant of £100,000 from Vodafone.
This grant would be used to develop and implement an exciting new fundraising strategy, centred upon mobile technology, which would enable jole rider to support many more people in changing their lives through education.

Watch this space to hear more about our progress.

In our update on Eddie [Sedgmore] this week we can tell you he came face to face with jole rider's man in The Gambia.
Eddie met Boyo Touray, who was over in the UK for a flying visit.
Boyo runs bikes4Africa for jole rider in The Gambia and has been involved with jole rider since the very beginning. 
Eddie was able to get a full account of life, as it is for a child without a bike in Africa, trying to get to school.
Not that Eddie needed any more inspiration, but he certainly got it - listening to Boyo's real life stories!

On the exercise front, tapering is the practice of reducing an exercise regime in the days or weeks leading up to a big sporting event and is key to ensuring that athletes are rested and rejuvenated.  And so recently, Eddie took some time out from his training regime for LE JOLE 2011 to get involved with a little light work for jole rider.

So thinking of taking it steady - the day before his 69th birthday - Eddie had a day out on the road helping his son Les, a regular team member for jole rider.  After loosening up cycling the short hop from Marshfield to Hullavington, he was out in the “JOLE Van” to collect bikes from Wiltshire recycler, Hills Waste  where the two of them netted 90 bikes4Africa out of the Household Recycling Centres.

Some of these bikes were then swiftly turned around and reloaded in the rig for Les to take into Liverpool Prison's refurbishing workshop the following day. We know that heaving bikes around can be exhausting and after Wednesday we think Eddie prefers cycling. 
Frankly, I think there are times when we do, too!  

Happy Birthday Eddie!

Eddie with Boyo