What is Beryl’s Night?
Beryl’s Night is a free monthly evening for women, and all trans & non-binary folks to come and use the workshop. It usually takes place from 6.30 – 9pm on the first Thursday of the month.
/// If you’re feeling a bit under the weather/have been in contact with someone with Covid symptoms/a positive test result, please stay at home.//
*The fine print: the aim of Beryl’s Night is to create a space for women and all trans folk to learn, fix, teach, socialise, get greasy hands, eat cake, hang out, laugh, use spanner’s, help each other, high five, ask for help, make friends…
Team Beryl believes that it is important to actively create this space, as well as encouraging women & trans folk to participate in the wider cycling community.<br/>
This month at Beryl’s Night
2nd March 2023, 6.30pm: Wheel Hubs
This month we will be zooming in on wheel hubs, what is the mechanism that makes your wheels turn and what could go wrong.
We’re starting 2023 with grand ambitions to bring back the DIY section of Beryl’s Nights. We will be chatting all things wheel hubs and bearing systems for the first 45 mins and then we have the DIY workshop open with mechanics and volunteers on hand for you to work on your own bike until 9pm. First come first served on bike stand availability.
We’re going back to running Beryl’s Night being drop-in rather than pre-booking spaces. Please arrive on time and be aware that if we get too full we may have to turn folk away.
No need to bring anything except yourself, we’ll bring cake to share!
See you there?
Team Beryl
Next month at Beryl’s Night
6th April 2023, 6.30pm
Topic: Brakes
Who is Team Beryl?
Team Beryl is a group of volunteers who are passionate about the intersection of bikes and gender. We organise Beryl’s Night and other cycling events throughout the year.
- Achas
- Inês
- Kat
- Kerry
- Calista
- Doireann
- Nikki
- Ella
Not content to meet just once a month at Beryl’s Night, this team is committed to making all workshop, events, and activities at the Broken Spoke inclusive and accessible to everyone by breaking down the barriers which prevent women, non-binary, and all trans folk from engaging in cycling and mechanics. The members of Team Beryl look forward to seeing you around the workshop!
Why Do We Need Beryl’s Night?
Team Beryl believes that it is important to actively create this space, as well as encouraging women and all trans & non-binary folks to participate in the wider cycling community.
Often growing up, these people aren’t given access to knowledge about fixing things and getting their hands dirty. When most mechanics are cis-men, there is a kind of hierarchy of knowledge, where the men fix the bikes and teach others. This primacy of cis-men in cycling spaces can often discourage other folk from participating, as well as bar them from the full range of opportunities available.
We want to do away with all this, and create a space where you are empowered to learn about your bike and share what you know – or just get on with it yourself! – all without the pressure and machismo that can exist in cis-male populated spaces.
More great cycling activities
The Cowley Road Condors are a vibrant and friendly road cycling club with a community focus and a committed, yet fun, outlook towards club riding. With over 100 female members, the Condors are one of the leading clubs in the area for women’s cycling. As well as their wide range of mixed-gender activities, the club runs women’s rides and races – check out the details here and see if the Condors are for you.
Isis Cyclists CTC offer social bike rides for women in Oxford. Rides are led by experienced and knowledgeable members of the CTC and follow cycle paths and quiet roads. The length of the rides varies, but all rides include a refreshment stop. To register for the Isis monthly newsletter, please email isiscyclistsctc@gmail.com.
Why is it called Beryl's Night anyway?
Beryl Burton was an English racing cyclist and one of Britain's greatest athletes. She dominated women's cycle racing in the UK, winning more than 900 domestic championships and seven world titles, and setting numerous national records. She set a women's record for the 12-hour time-trial which still stands today (and exceeded the men's record for two years).
One of Burton's most famous idiosyncrasies was offering witticisms to riders she caught. Dave Taylor, press secretary at Cycling Time Trials, remembers: "The only experience I had with Beryl was being caught by her in a ‘25' in Essex. As she passed me she said ‘Eh lad, you're not trying' where upon she disappeared up the road." We'd like more people to know about her, and others.
