Over the past couple of months, we’ve been meeting with MS Therapy Centres and MS Charities across the UK. We have been reaching out to build our MS connections, relationships and creating a positive impact in the MS community.
What have we done?
Our placement students, Aimee and Amelia, have been working hard to highlight other organisations that have goals that align with our own. They have been reaching out to arrange exploratory calls where we get to learn about the individual needs of MS therapy centres from all over the country. We’ve been speaking with centres in Cornwall, Sussex, Swindon, Berkshire, Surrey, Kent, and more, to understand their challenges, needs, and priorities. The calls so far have included some exciting conversations about how our MS organisations can help each other!
Why?
We have started this networking to improve our relationships within the MS community. It is important to us that we expand our MS connections as well as continuing and improving our existing connections e.g. the groups we meet on our rides. By improving our connections we hope to directly help more people across the country.
Our conversations…
The calls we’ve had so far have been super exciting! James, Aimee and Amelia have been talking with the centres in order to listen and learn.
We’ve been learning about what the individual therapy centres provide, such as physiotherapy, accessible exercise classes, oxygen therapy, counselling, support groups, travel assistance, and safe spaces for people to stay active and connected. Therapy centres really are lifelines for people living with MS.
Areas we’ve been working on include finding shortfalls we are able to fund, organising accessible cycling sessions for their members, running bespoke fundraising rides for the centres (local to the area they are in), as well as sharing our 2026 events with members, friends and family.
What we’ve learnt
We are constantly learning about the MS community and their changing needs through these meetings. Across our conversations, we’ve heard the same themes: rising demand for mental-health support, travel barriers, funding challenges, and a growing need for services for newly diagnosed people and younger adults. It has been highlighted that social gatherings are incredibly important for the centre members as many are fighting isolation. This means that many events that the centres hold, including weekly exercise classes and therapies, also allow for members to stay and chat for a while after their sessions.
Although we’re still in the early stages, we’re beginning to build relationships. Exploring how we can support these centres through awareness, fundraising, adapted cycling sessions, and opportunities for our riders and alumni to get involved. All of this will strengthen our MS impact in 2026. We’re here to support the MS community, not just through cycling, but by partnering with the organisations who care for people every day.
