***PRESS RELEASE*** May 15th 2018
A Right Royal Wedding Gift As Harry’s Elephants Help Charity!
You’ve heard about the difficulty postmen can have being chased by dogs, well when elephants began chasing the red Royal Mail bikes of game wardens in Malawi, they were lucky to escape with their lives! Luckily, UK Charity, “Cycle of Good” re-sprayed the British-made bikes green which seemed to calm the elephants, not long before Prince Harry helped rescue the over-crowded animals to move them to a less populated game reserve where they are now much happier. The Staffordshire-based charity has now made a special edition Royal Wedding, Union Jack Elephant Bike and is hoping Harry will be riding this to his wedding to Meghan on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of British-made, Royal Mail bikes, destined for landfill, have been saved by an innovative idea from the UK charity, Elephant Bike. The Staffordshire-based operation has been working with Staffordshire prisons to refurbish discarded bikes which are then sold as a way of funding international development work. George Furnival, UK Manager, explained an incredible coincidence “These Elephant Bikes take their name from the same elephants that Prince Harry rescued in 2016 in Liwonde game park, in Malawi. Prince Harry didn’t know it at the time, but a year earlier, the very same elephants were causing a real problem charging after the red Royal Mail bikes that game wardens were using to get around. The wardens asked us to paint the bikes green for camouflage and this inspired the us to do the same in the UK. We call them Elephant Bikes and for every one we sell, we send another bike to Malawi where it is mended, sold and the funds then run a children’s centre for some of the most needy children in the world. We think this is better than rattling tins.”
Prince Harry was in Malawi in 2016, working on a major project to transfer 500 elephants, more than 200 miles to a wildlife reserve. He explained at the time that elephants cannot roam freely like they used to without coming into conflict with communities, or being threatened by poaching and persecution.
The Royal Mail was forced to phase out the much-loved, hand-made, British postal bicycles, as emails replaced letters and parcel delivery has become the norm. A mountain of the red bikes were due to be scrapped until the UK charity came to the rescue. George, explained “We’ve been shipping second-hand bikes to Malawi, Africa since 2007, about 15,000 so far but, in 2015, we launched the Elephant Bike to fund shipping costs and we are amazed at how many people are now rushing to grab a piece of British history as the iconic Royal Mail bikes will soon disappear from our roads.”
To learn more about the Elephant Bike and how you can join the Cycle of Good, or to get your hands on one of only 15 of the special edition Royal Wedding bikes phone Cycle of Good on 01543 888 494 or email info@cycleofgood.com www.cycleofgood.com
