The Bury St Edmunds Rickshaw started in 2018 and offers free rides around the town to people experiencing limited mobility/and or social isolation. The idea is to give people an opportunity to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and interaction with others – the rider, and passersby.
In 2020, with the arrival of coronavirus we switched our activites almost entirely to delivering medicine and food to self-isolators and charities working with vulnerable people.
We bought a second bike, a cargo bike, which can also carry a wheelchair. Since then we have expanded the fleet to 3 passenger bikes and the cargo/wheelchair bike.
BBC Suffolk made this little film that shows what we are all about. Sam is riding the rickshaw for David, who attends Gatehouse Dementia Hub, and Gatehouse CEO Amanda Bloomfield.
In June 2022 we were awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. Equivalent to an MBE, QAVS are the highest awards given to local voluntary groups in the UK, and they are awarded for life.
Bury St Edmunds Rickshaw is a Registered Charity (no. 1189132) run entirely by volunteers.