Exploring Edges With Bicycle Adventure Club & Ekho Collective - Community Spotlight
Throughout the next few weeks we’re continuing to celebrate some of our wonderful Community Member’s 2024 successes!
And next up we’re celebrating the Bicycle Adventure Club who collaborated with the Ekho Collective to run a project called “Exploring The Edges”
Exploring The Edges, run in the summer of 2024, invited people to explore the edges at Hawbush Gardens. A Permaculture community project in Brierley Hill, stourbridge.
The goal for the project was to create an open forum, providing collaborative, safe and inclusive spaces for folks to come together, have open and honest conversations, explorations, and share experiences around physical and figurative edges.
This video shares some of the recordings and experiences from the project.
We caught up with Bicycle Adventure Club founder Sarah to find out a little more about the project.
Why did you pick the theme of ‘Edges’ and what was you’re biggest learning?
The project was run in partnership with Ekho Collective CIC who wanted to expand on their permaculture principle of ‘explore the edges and value the marginal’ to involve the whole community in the land.
We wanted people to get a sense of place, of the land belonging to them and challenging the barriers to access.
The biggest learning was that there is a real desire for community spaces & connection in shared activities amongst people that you identify with.
What feels like the biggest achievement or celebration from the project for you?
The project brought together some previously isolated individuals from the community who now have a place & people where they are accepted, valued and can contribute to Ekho’s ongoing community projects.
How do you go about establishing the trust and connection within a mixed group?
This is a brilliant and important question. The Bicycle Adventure Club is predominantly a cycling group but it is the LGBTQ visibility of our core crew that underpins everything. Participants know what they are stepping into.
Whilst I completely understand the importance of and appreciate LGBTQ specific spaces; there are folks, not LGBTQ themselves, that want a space to learn, be involved and show allyship. We can hold space for everyone and still be mindful of privilege.
By encouraging a mixed safe space we are inviting folks that are not part of the LGBTQ community to connect with us inside our narrative; fostering a culture of trust by uplifting, teaching and looking after each other. It’s an opportunity for everyone to learn, do better and to nurture allies.
Sarah has also shared a longer post reflecting on everything Bicycle Adventure Club has achieved in 2024 and some of the challenges they’ve had to overcome as an organisation along the way. Read the full post on the Bicycle Adventure Club website here.
