Newbury Glow Ride 2026
Updated: Oct 26
An outstanding success and we finished in the dry - almost!
52 riders, in dazzling clothing and with bikes festooned with lights, joined Newbury's second Glow Ride on October 22nd. All in support of Cycling UK's 'My Ride. Our Right" national campaign for safer cycling, especially for women riding after dark. Once again, we were the only community in Berkshire to organise an event and all three local clubs -Newbury Road Club, Newbury Velo and West Berkshire Spokes - joined forces to make it all happen. A small army of volunteers helped keep everyone safe, with marshals and ride leaders keeping them on track around two laps of the town centre and with first aid on hand, just in case. Despite a hiccup with the carefully-planned road closures, everything ran smoothly and the rain held off just about to the end.
We're definitely making a difference: while the riders were out on their first lap, I spoke with Councillor Stephanie Steevenson, Chairman of West Berkshire Council and Jo Day, Mayor of Newbury. They were extremely complimentary of our efforts and Councillor Steevenson told me:
"I've spoken with Nigel Foot and Stewart Gourlay, who are both front bench spokespersons, very interested in the roads and cycling. And the message is that as a council, West Berkshire Council, we're really focused upon encouraging safe, active travel.
From a Newbury / Thatcham perspective, our ambition in our local transport plan is to get 50% of all journeys undertaken by some form of active travel. We want to ensure that despite the challenging financial constraints on all councils—and we're all having to work within those constraints—cyclists, including women and girls, can cycle safely within our district. This is especially important for women and girls who may feel uneasy about cycling due to fears of traffic or simply cycling alone."
She went on to say: "I think this is a marvellous event. This is my second time of coming here, and all the women are so enthusiastic, they take to this event, they dress up beautifully, and it's just a marvellous idea to bring it to the attention of the public."
Mayor of Newbury, Jo Day added her comments:
"I'm just so thankful that a group of people are willing to highlight the problems of safe cycling, and a number of women, myself included, can be slightly anxious about cycling, particularly on your own. So, I think this event is really good. It's well-timed. It's good to see all the enthusiasm, and thank goodness for all the volunteers who put so much trouble into organising it and making sure it is a safe event."
Once again we had generous support from Banjo Cycles, who provided some prizes for the riders and from Berkshire Youth for the tea, coffee and cakes. We also had prizes donated by the national sponsors, Altura and CatEye. Special thanks to Gareth Davies and Torbjorn Hultmark for the wonderful photos and also to John Murrell for patiently creating and updating graphics to promote the event.
The last word has to be from Lorraine Murrell, Chair of Newbury Road Club:
"It's been fantastic. We've had a great time. It's been good for people to come out and show their support... to help make cycling safer and more accessible for everyone."
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