Mentoring Scheme, Report September 2005

There were 17 original volunteers from 2001, of whom about 6 benefitted from a short training session with Daniel Glaser. The 17 include: Daniel Glaser, Meade McCloughan, Lionel Shapiro, Stefano Casalotti, Jane Boardman, David Arditti (all present or past committee members), plus some people whom we know but don’t see very often (Michael Stuart, Dexter Moren) and then some I only have name and contact details for. (This list no doubt needs amending.)

Most of these mentors were willing to do their own cycle commuting route, usually at their commuting time (and speed?), which means that it has been very difficult to pair them up with mentees.

Conversely, the mentors who have been busiest (comparatively) are those who are: 1. willing to cover a wider range of routes 2. at times convenient to the mentees.

It is also important for the mentors to be able: 1. to go slowly with the mentees, stopping and starting and giving road craft advice; 2. to do the route with them more than once.

It is (ideally) time-consuming work, so no surprise that the busiest mentors are those who are semi-retired or under-employed [that’s Lionel and myself respectively!].

Mentoring undertaken:

Lionel:

• Indira: St John’s Wood to Brick Lane (September 2003)
• Stephanie: Camden to Canary Wharf (August 2005)

Meade:

• Indira: St John’s Wood to Victoria (September 2003)
• Jennifer: Kilburn to Victoria (August 2004)
• Jolene: Primrose Hill to Bloomsbury (October 2005)

Stefano:

• somebody (summer 2003)

(Lionel and I have also given route advice via e-mail, probably others too.)

Feedback

“Just wanted to let you know I successfully cycled to and from work on Wednesday for the first time! I remembered the route easily and survived in one piece! I also cycled today, despite the rain, just to disprove the theory that I'm a fair weather cyclist. I'm not liking the look of the weather outside now but will be cycling home - don't you worry! Thanks so much for your help, I really can't believe this is all so possible!”

“I absolutely did keep up with the cycling and loved every minute of it. I have had to stop for a while as I am pregnant but I hope to get back to it as soon as possible! Having you help me with the route definitely made all the difference and the ride became so much more pleasant once I was sure where I was going. I think the mentor scheme is wonderful.”

Mentoring not undertaken:

As many people again: Caroline Pay; Sasidhar C.; Judith Solomons; Gerard Frith; Justin Hoffman. Two of these were referred to mentors but nothing happened (as far as I know); with the other three no progress was made after initial contact.