We’re growing, broadening and gathering momentum

There are plenty of ways to judge the health of our club, and most of us would probably put participation near the top of the list: the turnout for club rides, the atmosphere at club events, and the banter in the WhatsApp groups are what really bring the club to life.

And there’s no shortage of any of this right now.

Membership numbers are only one part of that picture, but they tell an encouraging story too. The numbers confirm what we are all feeling – that Lewes Wanderers is growing, broadening and attracting fresh energy.

The headline figure is 106 members. Back in April 2024, the club had 68 members, so membership has grown by 38 people, or 56%, in a little over two years.

That is strong growth by any measure, but what is perhaps even more encouraging is the recent momentum behind it. Forty of today’s members have joined within the last 12 months. In other words, almost two in every five current Wanderers are relatively new to the club.

The strongest burst came during spring and early summer this year, with 18 people joining in April and May alone.

Growth is also changing the shape of the club in some positive ways.

Women Members

Female membership has risen from 9 in April 2024 to 17 today. That is an increase of 89%, comfortably ahead of the overall rate of membership growth. Women now make up 16% of the club, compared with around 13% in April 2024.

There is clearly still room to improve that balance, but the direction of travel is encouraging. Seven of the members who have joined in the last year are women, and the average age of female members is now 50, compared with 58.5 for men.

Age Profile

The age profile of the club is changing too.

In April 2024, the average age of a Wanderer was 61.1. Today it is 57.2. That figure falls to 55.5 if we exclude our venerable honorary members, who average nearly 80 years old. The shift is particularly notable when we consider that the longer-standing membership has aged more than two years during the same period.

The reason is straightforward: the club is attracting younger riders.

The number of members aged under 50 has increased from 10 to 28, while their share of the membership has risen from 15% to 26%. In 2024, roughly one Wanderer in seven was under 50. Today, it is more than one in four.

For added context, we now have four members under 30, when we didn’t have any in 2024.

That does not mean the club has lost its breadth. Far from it. Our youngest member, Will Turner, is 22, while our oldest, honorary member and Vice-President Peter Burbery, is 90 – a remarkable 68-year age span.

And continuity remains important too. Samuel Ramsey has the earliest recorded joining date in the current database, November 2009 – although we know that won’t make him the club’s longest-standing member. Some earlier joining dates weren’t captured when records moved between systems. If you’ve been a Wanderer since before 2009, let us know and we’ll happily update the database – and the record.

No single statistic tells the whole story of a club, of course. The real measure is still found out on the bikes, in the friendships and in the people who give their time to make things happen.

But taken together, these numbers paint a very positive picture: a larger, younger and increasingly diverse club with real momentum behind it.

For a volunteer-run club, that’s worth celebrating.

If you’re reading this and thinking Lewes Wanderers could be the club for you, find out more about membership here.