Jeff Frew 1957 - 2026

Jeff joined Cycling UK in the summer of 2016 as part of the first Big Bike Revival Scotland team. Jeff brought many decades of community engagement experience with him, which was vital in supporting our brand new project and recently recruited colleagues. Shona Morris, project manager of BBRS, remembers:

Team meetings were never without a hilarious story from Jeff. As we grew to know and love Jeff, we realised the anecdotes were usually from his lived experience. A man of incredible knowledge in the sector, gifted in his communication style and passionate about his beliefs, we were astounded when he combined these into a Big Bike Revival news article written in Scots in The National. A lovely read, even if we did require Jeff to translate it for us

Jeff had community development running through him; he was passionate about working with communities, supporting their ambitions and enabling them to find and use their power. His integrity, humility and engaging approach helped Cycling UK get into communities that hadn’t considered cycling was for them.

A pint-sized powerhouse of enthusiasm, Jeff was always ready with a story, keen to talk and lighten the mood with a selection of (not always clean) reminiscence. Jeff had more lives than most and lived each one to the full.

Community worker, mountaineer, musician, fundraiser, farmer and political advisor, Jeff had already had more than a lifetime of experiences behind him by the time we met. When asked to deliver a presentation at a team gathering, he gave us an entertaining, emotional and fascinating talk all about his adventures – featuring several near-death experiences – in the Himalayas.

Never a fan of new technology, Jeff struggled with anything that involved a screen and at some points it seemed half a dozen people across Cycling UK were helping him manage his spreadsheets, phone and laptop applications.

But even as his health worsened his ability to help turn ideas into projects and magic funding bids out of community groups kept his KPIs ahead of his colleagues. Not that he was the slightest bit interested in his KPIs or anyone else’s!

Jeff’s political connections and his ability to network anywhere turned an encounter in the supermarket with Aileen Campbell, then Minister for Public Health and Sport, into an invite to Holyrood. In a rare opportunity to meet with a minister without a civil servant present, Aileen gave us advice that directed the focus of Cycling UK in Scotland for years to come.

We loved Jeff and we will miss him. We will keep sharing our Jeff stories and remembering him fondly with laughter, as he would have wanted.

Our hearts go out to Jeff’s wife, Jenny, their daughters and grandchildren.