news – Aberdeen Cycle Forum

Action: you must re-subscribe, using the link below, if you want to remain a member of ACF

In the 21 years since ACF was set up, tech has moved on a bit! Our method of holding membership data, and using it to contact you, is outdated and needs to change. Like most other associations, we will now move to using a third-party provider as a means of holding data and communicating with you.

After researching alternatives, we have opted to use Award Force as the ‘provider’. We’ve already had an account with Award Force for a number of years and have used them as the basis of several competitions and campaigns. If you have ever made a nomination in our Awards, or entered one of our other campaigns or competitions, then you will already be registered*.

Within the next couple of months, we will stop using our current membership list, and if you want to remain a member of ACF you will need to ‘re-join’ by going to our new membership page via the link below.

Aberdeen Cycle Forum

We will issue another couple of reminders before the switch, but after that if you don’t ‘re-join’ via the new membership page, you will no longer be considered a member of ACF and will stop receiving our communications, although of course you will still be able to re-join at any point in the future.

We hope that everyone will take a few minutes to re-join. The work we do depends on having a solid membership base and Councillors (amongst others) are more likely to listen if they know we have a strong membership.

There is also a small change to our Data Privacy policy, just to reflect that your personal data (we only ask for your name and email address) will now be held by a ‘provider’ (Award Force). When you re-join you will can also:

Give us your postcode (or the first part of it) so we can tell if you live in the city or
Aberdeenshire or somewhere else (optional)
Make a donation to ACF to help with our running costs (joining ACF will still be free but remember we are entirely run by volunteers on a very small budget)
You can set preferences for communications
Keep in mind that some work-place servers block messages so using a personal email address rather than a work one might be better – but it’s your choice
*Remember if you have previously registered with Award Force, then you don’t need to do anything else to re-join, except note the change to our personal data policy
If you get stuck, try our ‘easy steps’ guide at aberdeencycleforum.org.uk
You can view, or amend your data, or unsubscribe at any time via the Award Force portal

We look forward to having you with us as we face the challenges of 2025 and beyond!

How to sign up with ACF on the Award Force platform – in easy steps

Go to the page where you can log in or register: Aberdeen Cycle Forum

Enter your email address. The system will recognise your address if you have registered before (during one of our campaigns or competitions) and will ask for your password. If you don’t know your password there is a password re-set function. If you have registered before, you don’t need to do anything further to join.
If you haven’t registered before, you will need to create a password. The system will also generate a code for you to enter – this is just to ensure that you are the owner of the email address being registered.
Once you have registered you will reach the ‘landing’ page. On this page is a link to our Paypal for donations (joining ACF is free but we do rely to donations to cover our modest running costs). You can ignore the ‘Entries’ as this relates to our competitions only.
From the landing page you can also follow a link to ‘profile page’
The profile page has 4 tabs:
Profile – which displays your name and email address, you can also re-set your password here.
Account fields – If you are happy to give us your postcode, it helps us to know if members live in the city, or Aberdeenshire, or somewhere else, but this is optional.
Security – you can if you wish set up multi-factor authentication.
Preferences – here you can check or un-check boxes relating to cookies and communications.
We will use ‘broadcast emails’ to contact you, so please don’t un-check that.
All done! You can log out by clicking on your name in the top right corner.

On Tuesday our 2024 Best in Cycling Awards came to a conclusion with winners announced and certificates presented. The winners are:

Best Employer – NHS Grampian

NHS Grampian have made strides in recent years in improving facilities for active travel and encouraging active travel within the organisation. Judges were impressed by the range of activities including a pool of e-bikes for use by staff for work-related travel. High-quality cycle parking is provided across several sites. There have also been cycling lessons for inexperienced riders and Dr Bike maintenance sessions. A worthy winner!

Best new Cycle infrastructure – Ellon Wheel Park

This Award goes to Ellon Wheel Park – a great new facility delivered by a group of dedicated volunteers who managed to get through all the planning and funding obstacles that are part of delivering a significant project like this. There is a pump track, alongside a closed loop level track which can be used for training and a full range of activities. The next stage of the project will also add a dedicated skate park. Check it out next time you are in Ellon! Ellon Wheel Park | Sports | Gordon Park, Ellon, UK

A photo of Ellon Wheel Park showing the curvy undulating bike path.

Best public cycle parking – Balgownie, Lord Hay’s and St Ninians Court

Having somewhere safe and secure to park your bike can be a real problem for those who live in flats when hoiking a bike up the stairs everyday isn’t an option. We’re delighted that Aberdeen City Council have gone ahead and installed secure bike shelters at Balgownie, Lord Hay’s and St Ninians Court. We understand more are in the pipeline for other ACC locations.

Best School – Harlaw Academy

With initial support from Sustrans I-bike project, some dedicated staff at Harlaw have continued to deliver and develop cycling in the school, including a girl’s group as part of the #andshecycles campaign. The have become a Cycle Accredited School and recently secured funding for new cycle parking. Well done Harlaw!

Best Business – Ride the North

Many of you will be familiar with Ride the North and don’t need us to tell you what a great cycle event it has become and an established date in the cyclist’s calendar. The emphasis is always on fun, the communities, and on top of that, since 2011 it has raised in excess of £2M for a range of charities. We’re already looking forward to RtN 2025!

Ride the North receiving their award for best business.

Cycle Heroes (Best community / volunteer project) – Cycling Without Age (Scotland) Aberdeen City

Before we say a bit about the winner, we were also impressed by the other worthy nominations so congratulations also to runners-up: Martin Sharman (CM Aberdeen), Clare Tayler (Harlaw Academy) and Middlefield Community Project Bike Hub. There are so many positive things happening in the world of cycling!

Cycling without Age (Scotland) has only been operating in Aberdeen for two years but they are making a huge impact and have recently been able to expand their fleet of ‘Trishaws’ such that they are now able to work with several care homes across the city. They are always on the look-out for new volunteer pilots, so get in touch if you can spare some time. Welcome to Cycling Without Age Scotland

The Cycle Raspberry – SUVs

Nominations for the Raspberry included some of our poor quality – or just missing – infrastructure, some bad examples of cycle parking provision, old and new, and one very dangerous roundabout. But the winner (voted for by the public) is SUVs. No one can have failed to notice that cars are getting bigger and the proportion of SUVs in the city seems to be increasing exponentially. Cars get bigger and bigger but our streets don’t, so the logical result is that there is less room for everyone else, including cyclists.

Tag: news

Important changes to ACF’s membership system

And the winners are …