RAF Lossiemouth recognised for "re-loved" bicycle project at MOD awards
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Staff at RAF Lossiemouth have been celebrating success at this year's Sanctuary Awards in recognition of a programme to "re-cycle" used bikes.
The long-running Ministry of Defence awards ceremony, which celebrate their 30th anniversary this year, showcase military and civilian efforts across defence, both in the United Kingdom and abroad, to protect the environment and to make defence more environmentally friendly.
The awards were held virtually once again this year.
RAF Lossiemouth’s Re-Cycle Programme were joint winners in the Social Value award for projects focused on any of the social aspects of sustainability, including heritage, public access, community engagement and education.
The programme, instigated by RAF engineers CT Josey Wales and Sgt Chris Wallace, has removed over 200 abandoned bicycles from the RAF Lossiemouth estate in north-east Scotland, generating around 150 fully working bicycles for recreational use by service personnel.
Selling a selection of the refurbished bicycles has allowed the team to donate to the Moray Emergency Relief Fund, which was critically important in supporting low-income families during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ongoing restoration of "unloved" bicycles has also enabled the team to become an accredited Mountain Bike Instructor Award Scheme (MIAS) maintenance and training facility. This accreditation is already being used to train up the next generation of bike mechanics for a fraction of the normal price and highlights the wider Station effort of reducing its carbon footprint by promoting green methods of travel.
Following the total clean-up of unwanted bikes from RAF Lossiemouth, the programme secured support from RAF Leuchars and the NAAFI Fund which donated 17 bikes and £13,500 respectively to form a new low-cost hire fleet.
The hire facility is available for use by all service personnel and their families, and the bikes are well maintained by the dedicated volunteers of the Re-Cycle team.
The programme has also supported the community by providing free maintenance and critical safety checks on bicycles owned by local schools and financially supporting the RAF Lossiemouth Junior Ranks Welfare Fund.
Group captain Chris Layden, station commander at RAF Lossiemouth said: “I am delighted to see Team Lossie personnel being recognised in this year’s MOD Sanctuary Award.
"The RAF Lossiemouth Re-Cycle programme reflects not only our drive for sustainability on station but also our continued mission to engage with the wonderful local Moray community. Congratulations to CT Josey Wales, Sgt Chris Wallace and everyone else involved.”
The other project to jointly win the award was Kier VolkerFitzpatrick (KVF35) joint venture who are delivering the Defence Infrastructure Organisation’s (DIO) major defence critical infrastructure and construction development at RAF Lakenheath.
Defence procurement minister Jeremy Quin said: "Defence procurement and the Defence Estate offer significant opportunities to support net zero and biodiversity: embedding a culture of sustainability while meeting essential Defence outputs.
"We are proud of the innovative ideas being generated to drive change. I send my congratulations to all the winners and nominees of this year’s Sanctuary Awards."
Richard Brooks, environmental support and compliance lead for DIO, which ran the awards, said:
“DIO is proud to host the Sanctuary Awards and to publish Sanctuary Magazine to celebrate the positive work taking place throughout Defence on climate change and sustainability. DIO takes this work incredibly seriously and we are pleased to continue to contribute to the wider Defence and government sustainability targets. Well done to all of the winners and thank you for your contribution to making Defence greener.”
To browse the full list of Sanctuary Award winners 2021 and to see details about their individual projects visit www.gov.uk/government/publications/sanctuary
