1,700km – 130 iconic venues and festival sites – 5 cyclists

posted:

19/10/2020

It’s the end of the road as #TheSurvivalTour fundraiser cycle ride arrives in London this weekend in support of #WeMakeEvents

Five music industry stalwarts, who cycled even further than Land’s End to John O’Groats, arrived in London this weekend (Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October), stopping at iconic venues in the capital including O2 Academy Brixton, The O2, Alexandra Palace, Roundhouse, The SSE Arena, Wembley, The Tabernacle, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Eventim Apollo, to the Royal Albert Hall, after cycling 1,700km across the country, starting in Newcastle via more than 130 iconic live entertainment venues and festival sites in Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, Oxford, Bristol, Bournemouth, Brighton and more.

Taking in between 80km-135km each day over two weeks (03-18 October), #TheSurvivalTour represents the music industry touring season that never happened this year. The tour aims to raise awareness of the plight of the 600,000-plus workers in the UK events industry, a sector regarded as the best in the world, to raise funds for ‘Backup’ - #WeMakeEvents’ chosen charity - that provides help to employees, freelancers and their families suffering in the entertainment sector, and to kick off ‘RESTART’, the next phase of the #WeMakeEvents campaign.

The five riders and driver of the support vehicle, provided by Crossland Bussing, all have established careers in the events industry, having worked with the biggest names in the world including Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Roger Waters, Florence & The Machine, Mumford & Sons and more. Heading up the initiative are Steve Reynolds and Loud Sound colleague Mike Trasmundi along with. Mark Ward of Proper Productions and colleagues Harry Ford and Tyler Cole-Holmes.

For the team, it was so important, professionally as well as personally, to try to help. “Our journey has allowed us to travel through more than 100 venues and festival sites in 13 days, but we know that there’s still much to do to get our message out there. We’ve met many people who have consistently told us about the dire straits that they and their colleagues are in. Most of our friends and colleagues work in this industry, we know their families and they are suffering. In fact, it’s like a big extended family, and we couldn’t stand by and let it just disappear without trying to help, raise awareness for the plight and fundraise at the same time” says Steve Reynolds, Operations Director – Loud Sound.

“Whilst some of the venues have received help from the Culture Recovery Fund, over 95% of the supply chain has missed out on this. These are the people working in the communities we have passed through. The fact that so many suppliers have missed out shows the size of the industry and the help that is still required. We all want the industry to bounce back quickly once we can reopen, however we need to retain the experience and knowledge inside our industry to allow this to happen” adds Mark Ward, Director – Proper Productions.

“Right now, tens of thousands of people who carry the UK's hugely successful live music and events industry are out of work, through absolutely no fault of their own. The majority of these individuals are self-employed or sole directors of limited companies, and many have received no financial support throughout this pandemic. These amazing boys who have been cycling daily since 3rd October and have been raising awareness across the regions of our industry venues which are currently lying dormant. The money raised by the survival tour will be given to charity to support our industry families during this most difficult time. A huge thank you from all of us within the #WeMakeEvents family……outstanding efforts by all!” – Gary White, Lead Producer - #WeMakeEvents

Route

3rd October: Newcastle > Northallerton
4th October: Northallerton > Leeds
5th October: Leeds > Manchester
6th October: Manchester > Warrington
7th October: Warrington > Sheffield
8th October: Sheffield > Nottingham
9th October: Nottingham > Coalville
10th October: Coalville > Birmingham
11th October: Birmingham > Oxford
12th October: Oxford > Bristol
13th October: Bristol > Glastonbury
14th October: Glastonbury > Bournemouth
15th October: Bournemouth > Portsmouth
16th October: Portsmouth > Brighton
17th October: Brighton > London
18th October: London (travelling between landmarks)

You can continue to help by donating to the charity on https://we-make-events.raisely.com/thesurvivaltour.

Covid-19 statement

Underlining the professionalism of the industry, the event hosts have taken all the necessary precautions and worked with authorities to ensure the safe running of the event and that social distancing was complied with.

About #WeMakeEvents

Our industry is important and contributes billions of pounds each year to the UK economy. Due to COVID-19 it needs immediate help. We want our future to continue to create millions of memories with the stories to match – it’s what we do best.

Without significant and immediate support, the entire live entertainments sector supply chain is at risk of collapse. #WeMakeEvents is a campaign to raise public, government and media awareness in support of the live events sector which employs over circa 1,000,000 highly skilled people in the UK, all of whom have had no work for the past four months, with little likelihood of restarting until Spring 2021.

The campaign is being run by a large and growing industry collective of trade bodies, businesses and freelancers affected by the shutdown, all working together. It spans online and social messaging, video, case studies and legal outdoor events to gain media attention, with specific activities having occurred on 11th August and the Global Day of Action on 30th September, our voice is beginning to be heard.

Our aim is to have significant financial support extended for the people and companies in this sector until they can return to work. We call on you to stand as one, united in our common cause to save our industry. Join our campaign #WeMakeEvents to get the UK Government to act now for immediate and sustained financial support by visiting #WeMakeEvents.