To mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS in 2023, we have joined forces with cycling clubs in Kingston to raise money to support the staff at Kingston Hospital.

From Saturday 25th February club members will be taking on the Ride for 75 challenge to raise money for Kingston Hospital Charity, which is seeking to raise £35,000 for a new secure bike storage facility for hospital staff.

Simon Dawes, co-founder of New Malden Velo says: 

"As a community club, we are really proud to be helping Kingston Hospital Charity and to support the staff that do such a fantastic job.

Many of the staff rely on cycling to get to work and the current facility is not a secure unit, resulting in staff bikes getting stolen on a regular basis.

The new secure unit will be available to all hospital staff and will include 78 bays for bike parking, which will be available 24 hours per day for staff on shift work."

Tracey Shaw, Fundraising Manager at Kingston Hospital Charity says:

"We’re incredibly grateful to the cycling community for organising this event to celebrate our NHS milestone birthday. A safe and secure bike unit will make a huge difference to our staff, many of whom are exhausted as they cope with huge patient-backlogs. Projects like this could not happen without the support of our community so a heartfelt thanks to everyone involved and supporting the event.

The challenge is open to everyone and will launch on 25th February with an event on the virtual cycling platform Zwift. People can join the challenge to ride 75 miles virtually in a group, which will be live streamed on social media.

Cyclists are also being encouraged to create their own version of the challenge, whether that’s riding 75 miles for the first time, or lapping Richmond Park on a Boris bike.

Participating Cycling Clubs

Epsom Cycling Club www.epsomcc.co.uk

Kingston Wheelers Cycling Club www.kingstonwheelers.com

London Dynamo www.londondynamo.co.uk

New Malden Velo www.newmaldenvelo.com

Waldy Wheelers www.waldywheelers.cc

With thanks to

Sigma Sports www.sigmasports.com

We are keen to help Kingston Hospital staff who live locally to cycle to work as its cost-effective, reduces carbon production, eases road congestion and helps keep you healthy. To do so, the NHS staff must be confident in knowing that their bike is securely stored while they are at work. Bike theft continues to be a persistent and frustrating problem for Kingston Hospital staff using the bike racks positioned around the hospital and installing CCTV, electronic access, and security lights for each of our small bike racks is neither possible nor cost effective (as shown by recent surveys). Consequently, another large storage and maintenance hub is needed to provide a safe and secure place for hospital staff to store their bike whilst working. Please support us on #Ridefor75 to help raise the funds needed to buy this new unit. No matter how small, every donation counts. Thank you.