…the man behind the Brompton bicycle talks about 35 years of the folding bike revolution
'The Genius of the Brompton Fold': An Evening with Andrew Ritchie will be held on Wednesday 1st Septemper 2010 at The Gallery, 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (Farringdon Tube). Doors open 6pm, Talk begins at 6.30pm. Refreshments are available.
Tickets for this event are £7 - all proceeds going to Sustrans - www.sustransshop.co.uk [Code: RG188] - or phone 0845 113 0065 during office hours
Andrew Ritchie, a Cambridge Engineering graduate and inventor of the Brompton bicycle, will be giving a talk at The Gallery in London on 1st September on his own personal story of how he invented the bicycle that was ahead of its time.
Andrew was working as a landscape gardener in London when, in 1975, he conceived the idea for a folding bike. He has guided the Brompton Bicycle Company from its initial production facility in a railway arch to become the largest bicycle manufacturer in the UK producing 26,000 bikes per year and the last transport manufacturer of any kind based in London. Thirty five years later and Bromptons are sold in 33 countries worldwide.
This informal evening is a chance to hear the story behind Andrew's invention in his own words and how it has helped transform the potential for everyday sustainable travel in the UK.
Sustrans is the UK 's leading sustainable transport charity. Its vision is a world in which people choose to travel in ways that benefit their health and the environment. It is achieving this through innovative but practical solutions to the UK 's transport challenges.
This year Sustrans is marking the fifteenth anniversary of the National Cycle Network. On 11 September 1995, an award from the Millennium Commission enabled Sustrans to embark on the first 2,500 miles of a 6,500 mile National Cycle Network. The Network now extends to just over 12,000 miles and carries one million walking and cycling journeys every day.
Sustrans is calling on UK governments to invest in doubling the number of journeys under five miles made by foot, bike and public transport to four out of five by 2020.
for more information and to download a copy of the call to action visit http://www.sustrans.org.uk/about-sustrans/call-to-action-for-2020
Please consider attending this even to sponsor, so to speak, Sustrans and with it a new future in the UK for cycling and walking and for sustainable transport.
Michael Smith (Veshengro) © 2010
