Phoenix Festival 2015

Over the years we have had the pleasure of working with the housing association Phoenix Community Housing and have seen the amazing work they're doing within the community in Lewisham and across SE London.

Managing more than 6,000 properties across SE London, Phoenix Community Housing is "a community gateway housing association - the first in London and one of four in the UK. That means residents can become shareholding members and play a central role in decision making." Source: Phoenix Community Housing

Not only do they offer the opportunity for people to have their voice heard on their development of their community but they also offer guidance & training for improving employability and the life skills for local residents. All of their work is complemented by a brilliant events schedule throughout the year which aims to bring people together in a fun & sociable way.

This is where our pedal power fits in! 

Assembling our Friction Motor Stands © Phoenix Community Housing

We've been to their annual Phoenix Festival for the past few years putting on workshops for children. We work together to assemble the kit and explain how our equipment works to generate electricity to power all sorts of things!  

Phoenix Festival has been running for 8 years, and we were in for a treat when we pitched up in Forster Memorial Park as we learnt we were surrounded by a circus tent, delicious food stalls and a live music stage where the famous reggae band Aswad were playing that afternoon!

We hoped our workshops added a little bit of fun to the day teaching kids how to put together a bike-powered sound-system. We split into groups to build a mini Power-Station with speaker included and our Friction Motor Stands. All our equipment is safe to use and is closely monitored by the team as kids love getting their hands on all the tools we bring with us.

Sarah Wickens of Phoenix Community Housing, who was managing the tent we were in had these kind words to share about us: 

"The engagement work with the young people from Electric Pedals. I was particularly pleased to see how well some of the teenage girls engaged with the building."

Building our mini Power Station with built-in speaker © Electric Pedals 

After all that hard work and a mini science lesson on electricity, we came together to have a party! As the kids cycled, the back wheels spun the motors on our Friction Motor Stands to transform the kinetic energy from the children into electrical energy to power our Mini Power Station & music. It's really fun seeing the joyful but surprised looks on their faces as the kit starts to work and the music starts to play! 

Providing the pedal power for the party! © Phoenix Community Housing

ALL of our helpers that day were given an Electric Pedals Pedal Power Champion certificate, whether they assisted in setting up the equipment or they provided the power for the music, which included a few facts we learnt on the day. Naturally we think anything involving bikes is fun but the educational elements are just as important. The more we can do to encourage focus & enthusiasm for alternative & greener sources of energy, the better our planet will be for it. 

Pedal Power Champions! © Electric Pedals