Ways to Volunteer

Volunteer for our National Office

Our National Office in Guildford, Surrey is a busy environment where Cycling UK's experts work together to promote cycling. By volunteering to support us here, you can be part of a hardworking and motivated team and obtain a unique insight by being at the heart of a growing national charity. Depending on the role, you could work either from our National Office or from home – or anywhere else that suits you.

A range of talents can be helpful, with administration, organisation, writing and communication being the main skills needed to support our Guildford team. However, if you have more specialist skills in fundraising, project and event management, IT, internal communications, monitoring and evaluation, finance and legal, we would love to hear from you.

Meet some National Office volunteers: Natalie Parsons worked for our Communications Team whilst Roy Wigmore, a retired bank manager, has been an invaluable help with organising some of our flagship cycling events. 

Volunteer in the community

We have over 930 community, affiliate and Member Groups all over the country delivering cycling activities to a huge variety of communities. All these groups use volunteers in various roles to run them. Types of roles include:

• Ride leaders: are perhaps some of the most imporant volunteers we have. They enable people to take part in rides of varying lengths and speed, both on and off-road, all over the UK. The rides are for everyone, from first-timers to seasoned veterans, and ride leaders are the volunteers who make all these possible, planning routes, pointing out places of interest, and making sure everyone enjoys riding as part of a sociable cycling group.

• Cycle maintenance: volunteers that support our activities and those of our groups by providing cycle maintenance are growing rapidly. Bike recycling is a great way to reduce waste, develop maintenance skills and create bikes for people who might otherwise be unable to afford them. We work with and support a number of bike recycling projects, centres and social enterprises across the UK. These groups can have both paid staff and volunteer cycle mechanics working for them. We also help individuals to learn basic mechanic skills to support the participants they ride with and/or learn how to maintain a fleet of bikes used by their group. In particular, we work with a number of bike recycling centres on The Big Bike Revival, with events across England and Scotland to give you the chance to be shown how to fix your bike by a friendly expert, improve your cycling confidence and have some fun.

• Inclusive cycling support: we believe cycling is for everybody, regardless of age, health or ability. Using an adapted cycle is a fantastic way for everyone to have fun, gain more independence and enjoy a sense of freedom. Over the last 10 years we have supported a range of inclusive cycling centres around the UK, where trained staff and specialist equipment are on hand to help engage children and adults with differing needs to take part in a quality cycling activity. We also work with community groups supporting people with additional needs to discover cycling.

• Setting up a cycling group: many of our volunteers help provide local cycling opportunities, either for members of the public or for their friends. We have many groups who join Cycling UK to be a part of our community network, and to receive access to funding, insurance and other benefits. The people helping to organise these are all volunteers, from formal groups with club secretaries and treasurers to informal groups arranging a meeting place for a group of novice cyclists. Many don’t think of themselves as volunteers, as to them, it’s “just a group of people meeting to do what they love – cycling”! Find out about the different kinds of cycling group and learn why and how to set up your own. 

Meet some volunteers in the community: Joy Anibaba is a volunteer ride leader in Birmingham for the Joyful Bellas and Fellas Community Cycle Club, while Julie Cunningham is a ride leader for Belles on Bikes in Falkirk. Sue Booth is founder and organiser of Chester Fabulous Ladies cycling group. Kallum Thomas is a volunteer bike mechanic at Ceracycloan in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Knowledge, skills, a sense of pride, personal satisfaction and I feel part of a team which is like a supportive family. 

Kallum Thomas, volunteer bike mechanic

Volunteer at events

Cycling UK runs events throughout the year – from the Women’s Festival for Cycling to our Challenge Ride Series. We also sometimes join forces with other organisations to support major cycling events such as Ride London. Our member, affiliate and community groups across the UK run local events throughout the year from major Sportivs to fun family rides. Volunteer roles at events can involve marshalling, providing your mechanic know-how to conduct Dr Bike safety checks or helping organise and promote a local event. These opportunities are great for volunteers wanting to do adhoc irregular volunteering as they usually involve just one day or a few hours of your time.

• Event cycle maintenance: in particular, Cycling UK's volunteer cycle mechanics play an important role at many events, conducting Dr Bike safety checks or supporting mass rides and sporting challenges. If you are a qualified cycle mechanic, or would like to be, then you can be part of the team that keeps participants' bikes safe and functional.

• Marshalling: Cycling UK occasionally supports high-profile events like RideLondon. Marshaling at sportives and other gatherings like these is an important way to ensure their success and safety, while being part of the excitement of mass cycling.

Meet some event volunteers: Roland Seber was a volunteer mechanic for Cycling UK at RideLondon. Meanwhile, Mark Waters is a volunteer event organiser and also Chair of West Surrey CTC. He describes how and why he became a volunteer for Cycling UK. 

Volunteer as a campaigner

Cycling UK campaigns nationwide to keep cycling safe and accessible for all – whether by encouraging safe infrastructure through our Space for Cycling campaign, promoting road policing and justice for cyclists via our Road Justice campaign, lobbying for access rights across the countryside through our off-road Road campaign, or campaigning about bikes on trains or bicycle parking. For all these campaigns we rely on a network of passionate local volunteers who engage with local residents and government to keep us informed. No matter what your skills or how much time you have, your involvement could be invaluable in promoting cycling in your local area. 

Volunteer as a fundraiser

You can help make an important difference to community cycling by volunteering as a fundraiser for us. Cycling UK is a charity passionate about making a positive difference to individuals and communities through cycling. Cycling can play a major role to address the impact of social, economic and health inequalities across the United Kingdom. By fundraising for us you can help to ensure that our work through locally delivered, tailored projects can introduce cycling to communities across the UK who might not normally have an opportunity to get on a bike. Volunteers can take part in charity rides, take part in events and undertake any non-cycling fundraising activities such as cake sales and coffee mornings.

Meet one of our volunteer fundraisers: Rachel Wilson raised an amazing £1000 of funds for Cycling UK's Edinburgh All Ability Bike Club, which she has attended for two years.

Find out more about becoming a volunteer