Well… what a year 2025 turned out to be! Not exactly the one any of us would have ordered, but here we are, still standing, still grateful, and still full of stories.
In May we faced a loss that shook us to the core. We said goodbye to our beloved Tony Smith, founder, trustee, chairman, and a friend who somehow managed to be both a hurricane of ideas and the calm in the storm. With Tony, we knew the day would come, though I think we all secretly hoped he’d just keep going forever out of sheer stubbornness. Eight days later, we lost Josie, Tony’s sister and another much loved trustee. That one was a true shock. But in a strange, beautiful way, it felt fitting that she’d nip off quickly to keep her brother company, the two of them were always a team.
As the months rolled on, 2025 didn’t hold back. Halfords, who had supported us since 2016 with thousands of donated bikes, told us that they were changing direction and focusing on UK projects instead of international ones. We understood their reasoning, even if it felt like someone had kicked the legs out from under the table. Without those bikes and with container prices soaring, we had to face a tough truth: continuing to ship containers to Malawi simply wasn’t sustainable anymore. So in September, one of the hardest decisions in our charity’s history was made, to close all UK operational facilities, and with that came the news no one wants… redundancies.
As we close this chapter, we want to say a huge thank you to every member of our team who has poured their time, energy, and heart into this charity, including George our original UK manager, Roxy our amazing seamstress, Bhavna our Finance manager and Toby our previous warehouse guy. Your dedication has built schools, created jobs, and changed lives. We couldn’t have done any of it without you, and we’ll always carry your impact forward.
And our volunteers… honestly, where do you even begin?
Joe, our longest-serving champion (16+ years), Chris the scrap man and container magician, Stan & Alan, our unstoppable Elephant Bike duo who tried to retire but bounced back faster than a bungee cord. And the hundreds of volunteers over the years, far too many to list, but each one is a part of this mad, brilliant family.
- 81,000 bikes donated by Halfords and donors.
- 20,000 bikes from Royal Mail
- £750,000 raised by our enterprises, Elephant Bike and Cycle of Good.
- Over 110,000 bikes sent in total. In Africa, a bike isn’t just transport; it’s opportunity, safety, independence, transformation.
- 8,000+ sewing machines thanks to our friends at WorkAid and local donors.
- 158 containers shipped (155 of those under my watch, my back still hasn’t forgiven me)
- 600+ jobs created in Malawi
- 5 schools built, with 60% bursary places, dormitories for school boarders, a University and all ongoing projects including Beehive Mills Industrial Park and Beehive Enterprise Park.
- Tens of thousands of children reached through education, play, and outreach.