A new focus, new look, new partners and over 100 FREE activity spaces a week for the local community are confirmed as the charity prepares for the future…
Our Vision is to provide a community hub that drives positive change in an area of significant health and socio-economic inequalities where 42% of year 6 children are overweight and 1 in 3 adults are inactive.
Our Future Direction looks to chart how we achieve this and has been formed from an in-depth Review conducted over the last year. This has seen some themes arise that we are keen to ensure are covered as part of what we do and importantly, how we are seen, going forward.
Did you know?
- ‘Cyclopark is a commercial organisation’ = Incorrect. The physical venue known as Cyclopark is a Kent County Council (KCC) facility. The Cyclopark Charity is an independent registered charity that operates the venue on a multi-year agreement for KCC with any profit re-invested into the park’s facilities and wider charitable activities.
- ‘Cyclopark gets lots of money from government organisations – look at the logos on the sign outside’ = Incorrect. Spearheaded by Tony Mack, significant funding was raised from the various government agencies on the sign to be able to open the venue in 2012. Whilst there was some core funding towards the annual running costs in early years, this has reduced significantly with the current Operator Agreement contributing less than 10% towards operational expenditure. This is due to reduce further in coming years.
- ‘Cyclopark is solely a talent cycling centre’ = Incorrect. We are incredibly proud of the cycling talent that is discovered through the excellent coaching on offer. However, we also have much, much more going on. With over ¼ million visits a year, all ages and abilities are able to benefit from the outstanding health & wellbeing experiences on offer as we strive towards our Vision of providing a community hub that drives positive change
Strategic goals as a charity
Our Future Direction provides focus towards achieving this Vision. It concentrates on four strategic goals that link to the strategic plans of our key stakeholders Kent County Council, Gravesham Borough Council, Active Kent & Medway, Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust and British Cycling as we work together to achieve our collective goals.
Strategic Goal 1
The Charity to be a key resource for Public Health and the Kent and Medway Integrated Care Strategy, particularly the shared outcomes of – Giving children and young people the best start in life & to Support happy and healthy living for all.
Strategic Goal 2
The Charity to be the centre of cycling in the region – enhancing the current discovery of hidden talent and staging world-class events with a renewed focus on inspiring more people to get on a bike through the development of a more robust grassroots/participation offer for children and adults. This in turn supports our Public Health objective.
Strategic Goal 3
The Charity to use cycling and non-cycling events to inspire engagement, generate valuable funds and as a key driver of profile and economic impact for the charity, Kent and Gravesham.
Strategic Goal 4
The Charity to be commercially self-sufficient from KCC Operator Agreement funding within five years. Alongside existing operational income and a continual focus on efficiency and effectiveness, we will diversify and grow our income streams through grants, corporate partnerships and individual giving.
Our Positioning
Central to this Future Direction is re-positioning our brand to the Cyclopark Charity as the deliverer of the Vision and Mission. This is encapsulated in the new website, App and in venue branding launched this week as we emphasise our positioning and embrace the amazingly positive values and impacts that shone through in the Review.
Our Future Direction had its ‘soft launch’ over the summer of 2024, with the re-positioning and strategic goals being instrumental in securing grant funding for four free health and wellbeing-based programmes for the local community as well as acquisition of two charity main partners.
New Programmes
Launched in October 2024, three free Chair Fit & Chat classes already happen each week for Over 65s (Mondays & Wednesdays) and those living with dementia (Fridays) which see over 20 participants on most days.
This week we launch two more free programmes for the local community meaning that from January 2025, there will be over 100 free places of health and wellbeing activities for the local community.
Movement Not Meds will see up to 120 participants with underlying health conditions from low-income families in Gravesham receive a four-month programme providing regular consultations, programme writing and access to low impact exercise classes and facilities.
Another new initiative is the Long-Term Pain Management Programme that will see up to 12 participants with chronic lower back pain receive a forty-week exercise rehabilitation programme involving specific clinics, programme writing and access to exercise classes and facilities.
Whilst these programmes have some funding to support them, it does not cover all associated costs and is limited to a specific period of time. So, as part of our diversification of income generation, we have launched an Individual Giving Programme that will focus on themed campaigns throughout the year alongside an ‘always on’ support of the charity.
New Partnerships
We are also honoured to welcome Kent Reliance and Frost Solutions as our first charity Main Partners. Both support the overall operations of the charity whilst having a specific focus on an area relevant to them. For Kent Reliance, this is the Cyclo4All programme as part of their wider support of charities in the area including Demelza.
“Kent Reliance, part of OSB Group, is delighted to partner with the Cyclopark Charity to provide children and young people with the best possible start in life. By offering access to healthy outdoor opportunities, we’re aligning with our shared values of collaboration, mutual respect, and promoting both physical and mental wellbeing.” Jonathan Couch, Head of Communities Impact, OSB Group.
For Frost Solutions, their focus is to support our look and feel particularly around our new Meetings & Experiences programme launching in January 2025 that companies of all size will be able to benefit from.
Frost Solutions is a local company who, from humble beginnings in a Kent garage, now consists of three main divisions – branding, graffiti control, facilities management – based out of their state-of-the-art production facility in Medway.
These are exciting times for the charity and we look forward to announcing further developments in the new year.