We’d like to give our thanks to Hannah Leverett and Alex Robertson, founders of the Evil Cycling Lobby, for very kindly donating a portion of their t-shirt sale proceeds to Wheels for Wellbeing! We got in touch with Alex to find out more:
“The idea of an “Evil Cycling Lobby” has been a bit of an in-joke in cycling circles for a long time. There is a strange idea that somehow “cycling lobbies” have some sort of special persuasive power over Councils around the UK and that special power is used to – shock horror – make our towns and cities nicer places to live and work. Of course, the reality is that Councils are doing this because clean air and quiet streets that are safe for people to walk and cycle [in] are a good idea, backed up by lots of evidence, and supported by the majority of people.
The #EvilCyclingLobby merchandise all came about after a Tweet by Hannah on 1st October, poking fun at the conspiracy and imagining that “the lobby” would be meeting in the parish hall to discuss our evil plans. Cycling advocate and fan of complicated online jokes Alex liked the idea and designed a logo for “Lifetime Members” of the imaginary group, which got such a good reaction that the merch store was born.
Hannah and Alex didn’t want to make any money from this, so chose a distributor that uses ethical supply lines, renewable energy and is based in the UK to print and send the t-shirts. The profit per item sold is split between a number of cycling campaigns and charities, of which Wheels for Wellbeing is one.”
If you’d like to buy an Evil Cycling Lobby t-shirt, then you can do so by visiting their online shop: https://evilcyclelobby.teemill.com/