Website Editor

Maintenance and management of the Spokes website, and social media too.

(Note: we do not expect the person to provide all the content, and we are not producing content daily - more monthly at the moment, but we do hope to have some increase.)

The Spokes website uses Wordpress and there is some on-going maintenance, but the majority of work is to upload new articles, keep the calendar up to to date and occasionally add new sections.

Ideas for changes and additions is also welcome.

The role can be extended to include publicity and marketing too, if that is of interest.

About West Berkshire Spokes

The main aim of Spokes is to get more people in West Berkshire cycling as a form of transport. We achieve this by:

- Working with others to provide better cycling facilities, which includes:
o Cycle Routes
o Cycle Parking
o Cycle-friendly road layouts

- Responding to consultations:
o On relevant strategies and infrastructure proposals for West Berkshire
o On appropriate planning applications highlighting how cycling facilities can be included.
o Attend regular Cycle Forum meetings

- Training
o To ride
o Basics of bicycle checks and puncture repair

- Regularly updated website which includes relevant up to date news and local routes
- Bicycle checks
- Provision of bicycles to children whose families cannot afford one - as a bike loan scheme
- Regular Social Rides
- Membership - giving discounts at local bicycle stores
- Seed funding for larger projects
- Three time a year cycle audit on behalf of the council

Large Projects we have been involved with recently include:
- Canal towpath - raised poor state with the Canals and River Trust. Raised £100,000 through Greenham Trust to improve section east of Colthrop.
- Newbury to Didcot Railway line - working hard to reopen the line for pedestrians, cyclists and horse rides. First section opened in February 2020

What skills do I need?

• Web editing and maintenance skills (ideally with WordPress, but training will be given)
• Use of multi-media - managing content
• Good communications skills - both verbally and written English

Useful to have, for multi-media and beyond (or  could be learnt/enhanced):

• Some photography skills would be ideal
• Creativity - i.e. in how to publicise what we do

Beyond that, they don't need to be a cyclist, but an interest in cycling would help, has an interest in improving the local environment or an interest in sustainability.

When is this role available?

This is a flexible role available on various days/times.

Details

Time commitment: Ideally the person can make the monthly meetings so their ideas, input from the rest of committee (and others at meetings), and needs on publicity can be discussed. Meetings are typically 1.5 to 2 hours long, and currently on Wednesdays. Main time is for actually doing the publicity officer role, and we currently only do a few events a year, which tend not to be in the winter months. There will be one or two projects a year to cover, as well as on-going items.

Where does this role take place?