During May, Rachel and I tagged bikes in the city with project postcards. We put them in spokes, in baskets and between cables of locked up bikes. We have been getting a good response from bike-owners contacting us via email to express interest in being part of the research.
We designed these cards for fieldwork in Hull. The first is an intro to the project and invitation to participate. We handed them to cyclists, left them in bike shops and attached them to parked bikes throughout the city. The second was designed for use at the Lord Mayor’s parade on Saturday 15th May. We shared a stall with the Hull City Council (HCC) Sustainable Travel Officer located in front of a well-signed transport bus.
We asked local cyclists what they liked and disliked about cycling in Hull and if they wanted to participate further in the study. The response was terrific. We ran out of cards. (It helped, of course, that HCC was giving away a range of cycling vests, trouser guards and maps).
Many thanks to Allan Davidson for letting us join in HCC activities, enthusiastically explaining our project to interested cyclists and encouraging them to participate in the study.
This year, for the first time, the bicycle took a key role in the annual Lord Mayor’s Parade through the city streets of Hull. In the past a flotilla of lorries and HGV’s transported displays and people. This year, in resonse to the economy, a focus on ‘health and wellbeing’ the parade adopted took a shorter, quieter and decidedly more eco-friendly form. I’d like to think the human powered theme was also in recognition of the role pedal power and waking play in everyday lives of Hull citizens.
Participants in the parade took to the streets on foot, skates and bikes. They included East Park Cycle scheme kids, The Police, the local radio station and the 5th Hull Boys Brigade amongst others.
Despite being the headline event, the parade took only a small portion of the busy day. From 9am to 5pm, crowds milled through two large areas of stalls and events in Queens Gardens. Taking up the offer to join the Hull City Council’s Sustainable Transport Officer and the HCC bus, we were able to distribute research postcards and talk to hundreds of people. And despite the rain showers during the week, it was dry and even a little sunny during the day.
