OUR BLOG

Step Count Challenge

May is National walking Month and with that in mind we have a We have some Walking Challenges for staff accross the business to participate in


Challenge 1 - Enter the walk to work / walk 10,000 steps a day competition. This challenge has 4 x £50 One4All gifts cards up for grabs. All entrants will be entered into a draw and 4 lucky winners will be selected in the first week of June


Challenge 2 - Pledge to walk 10,000 steps a day by taking part in the 'walk 10,000 steps a day challenge'. All those taking part will be awarded 150 hopeys to their giving at next profiles. To enter the challenge click here


Challenge 3 - Step count challenge. simply log your steps every day between May 8th to June 11th for a chance to win a £200 sportswear shopping voucher. All those that log their steps daily will be entered into a draw to win the prize. Click here to take part


Princes Trust - Future Steps Challenge

The Future Steps 2023 app is now available to download! You can now rally your colleagues to download, create their teams of 6, and get ready to walk, run or roll 10,000 steps every day this February. The fundraising target is super accessible (£250 per team, which is just over £40 target per person), with all funds going directly towards helping young people across the UK, be their best in 2023 and beyond.

 

You can access lots of resources to help spread the word on our Future Steps Resource Hub – but if anything else would be helpful, please let me know.

 

It would be great to start the new year with some Next teams taking part. Whether it’s lots of employees taking part, or a brilliant amount raised, getting your employees moving, looking after their wellbeing and supporting the Prince’s Trust will be a success!

 

Thanks in advance for sharing – to make your life easier, below is some text you can share, perhaps with the attached poster, image below or one of the images from the link above.

 

Can you beat 10,000 steps every day in February?

Walk, run or roll on your own or as part of a team of up to six people in the #FutureSteps challenge. Boost your own health and wellbeing, all whilst helping to transform the futures of young people across the UK by raising money for The Prince’s Trust.

 

The unique app-based event means you can track your progress every step of the way, and even see how you’re standing up to the competition. It’s a chance to raise money that will go toward vital youth programmes including training, education and boosting confidence.

 

Take on the challenge and you’ll raise money that will impact young lives across the UK.

 

Download the Future Steps app on the App Store or Google Play and link it to your tracking device to get started or go to https://www.princes-trust.org.uk/support-our-work/events/future-steps-2023 to find out more.

109 kms versus Cancer

Meet Joanna Murant who heads up the Sustainability and product legislation department.


As some of you will know, cancer unfortunately will affect many of us at some point in our lives.

After my early diagnosis of DCIS (more info here: https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/breast-cancer/ductal-carcinoma-in-situ-dcis) in July 2022, and following surgery & radiotherapy, I am one of the lucky ones.

Although I have been able to achieve a full recovery, I will now have ongoing monitoring for the rest of my life. I am incredibly grateful to the doctors, surgeons, consultants, nurses, gamma knife experts (yes this is a thing!) and radiologists who discovered my condition, treated it and have supported me throughout. 

Macmillan are doing amazing work, and we'd like to raise as much as we can for an organisation that is supporting so many people with cancer.

I've taken part in a few bike events over the years - the above photo was taken on Brighton beach following London-Brighton in June 2022 (pre-diagnosis!). I always wanted to take part in the Cape Town Argus, and will be flying out for the event taking place on Sunday 12th March 2023. It's me, Mike, and thousands of other participants taking on the 109km and many hills (and no doubt some strong winds just to up the challenge!) 

If you want to follow the event or want more information here's the official site: https://www.capetowncycletour.com

Thanks for supporting my fundraising.  Macmillan gives people with cancer everything they’ve got. If you’re diagnosed, your worries are Macmillan’s worries. Macmillan’s doing whatever it takes. But without your help, Macmillan can’t support everyone who needs them. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Your details are safe, JustGiving will never sell them or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs.

Joanna completed the 109km in 4hr40, with 3,800ft of climbing and in 32 degree heat... for those interested see the Strava screenshot showing the route/elevation etc.


So far Joanna has raised a current total of £2,118, including the kind donation from NEXT (Thank you @Andrea Burley  and the Charities team). If you would like to make a donation click here



Joanna woul like to thanks everyone support and for helping me to raise funds for a charity which is doing brilliant work.



E-Bike Loan Scheme




E-Bike Shelter

Head Office E-Bike Shelter 

The Travel2next team  along with the Facilities team have converted the existing cycle shelter located outside the Multi-story car park to an E-Bike Charging area.

The decision arose due to staff working at the Head Office site registering their mode of travel as an employee that uses an E-Bike.

The shelter (which is a secure unit with a Digi-lock coded lock) contains a number of 3 pin power points to charge 12 bicycles at a time.

To use the shelter please contact Travel2Next for access to the Digi-Lock code

** Please note, it is the responsibility of the employee to ensure that their charging power packs are in a good and safe condition before plugging into the power supply **

Clean Air Day

Thursday 16th June


Clean Air Day is happening on 16 June 2022. 

We would love to hear what you are doing to support the event.

Click here to make your Pledge

Some idea's for pledges are:

NEXT take on Modeshift StarsFor

NEXT take on Modeshift StarsFor to become the first corporate company to achieve accredited Travel Plans for every site in the UK & Ireland

Pictured left to right

James Hardie (Modeshift), Caitlynne Picot (Next Distribution), Sarah McAlinden (Next), Ian Bell (Next), Steven Bentham (Next) and Nick Butler (Modeshift)

PHOTOGRAPHER: SCOTTAKOZ 

The Travel2next team  have spent the last two years working with all the Next, Lipsy and Victoria's Secret sites throughout the UK & Ireland to ensure that every store, contact centre, distribution centre, London Office and Head Offices in Leicester achieved an accreditation for each individual Travel Plan. 

To achieve accreditation the team had to

The engagement with employees saw an increased number of requests to assist with personal journey plans, and an increase in the number of staff entering competitions.

Accreditations are awarded by Modeshift (The UK's leading sustainable travel organisation whose mission is to share best practice in sustainable travel delivery.)

Modeshift offer a Travel Plan platform called StarsFor which is used by Businesses, Education, Residential Developers and Venue hosts. The platform is a simple to use tool which creates an online environment in which to build and grow your Travel Plan.

Currently there are 545 sites that make up Next, Lipsy and Victoria’s Secret in the UK and Ireland. 

Over the next 12 months the Travel2Next team plans to apply for Bronze level for the 429 sites currently sitting at Green level, and to upgrade some Bronze sites to Silver level. The team will continue to work with staff offering promotions and surveys to help achieve higher level accreditations.

#Letstakeiton #Travel2Next #TeamModeshift @CBTTravelChoices @ScottAkoz @TeamModeshift






Modeshift Advent Tree

Whichever way you roll or stroll join the #ActiveTravelSTARS for a healthy and environmentally friendly festive journey during advent and tell us what you see and tag #TeamModeshift

Winter Wheelers

This December, Love2Ride are conquering the cold and showing that biking is a year-round activity with Winter Wheelers! 

What’s Winter Wheelers all about?

With a focus on building cold weather riding skills and, of course, winning prizes, Winter Wheelers aims to get more people than ever before riding in a winter wonderland! 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a keen biker or brand new rider, everyone is welcome to take part. You can ride your bike anywhere, any time up until Christmas Day – even a short spin will put you in the running for some amazing prizes!

To sign up visit here

Modeshift Awards

Left to right: Sarah McAlinden – Next, Alison Holland – Brightwayz,  Julia Holland – Brightwayz, Caitlynne Picot – Next.Photo taken by Scott Akoz

Next submitted two entries to be considered by Modeshift for the annual National Sustainable & Active Travel conference which this year was held at the Athena Conference Centre in Leicester on the 4th and 5th of November.

Contribution to Sustainable Travel – Organisation

Next was up against Birmingham City Council working with National Express West Midlands and Transport for West Midlands.

Next Redhouse Distribution Centre – Driven by the Annual Travel Survey in 2021 this site was able to identify a need for a Public Transport Service. Caitlynne Picot, Sustainable Travel Coordinator worked with the Firstbus group to adapt an existing route to complement shifts at the distribution site. This has assisted the business to become a more appealing place to work.

Transport for West Midlands – Cycle Hire Scheme. This is the Uk’s first region wide scheme covering 7 local authorities in the West Midlands. 1,500 bikes were installed. Those working or living in the West Midlands are able to hire the bikes through the Beryl Bikes App.

Birmingham City Council & National Express – Nominated for their vision to become the UK’s most sustainable bus company. They aim to make bus travel as green as possible and reduce air pollution.

The winner was Birmingham City Council & National Express

Contribution to Sustainable Travel – Individual

Sarah McAlinden, Next Plc. Sarah works for Next Plc to promote Sustainable and Active travel across their offices, stores and online call centres reaching around 34,000 employees. As well as promoting monthly competitions and producing Bi-Annual Newsletters Sarah also produces the Travel Plans for these areas of the business, which currently stands at 141 plans that have been awarded accreditation. This number is fast growing.

Alberto Zanni, Brighton & Hove Council / Brunswick Primary School. Alberto is a parent of the school who was nominated for coordinating a team of volunteers to staff a school street

Richard Hearne, Founder & Chairperson, PRiDEOUT. Established in 2019, PRiDEOUT is a cycling community for LGBTQIA+ Community. PRiDEOUT aims to make cycling for leisure, sport and transport more accessible to the community

The winner was Alberto Zanni

Next Fosse Park

Travel2Next have been working with Fosse Park and Go Travel Solutions to deliver Sustainable and Active travel options to staff working at the Fosse Park Store.

By offering incentives such as free bus tickets and E-Bike loans to new starters, as well as discounted bus tickets to existing staff, provides through the Getting to Work Scheme offered by Go Travel Solutions.The store has become the first retail store in the UK to achieve a Gold Accredited Travel Plan.

Accreditation’s are awarded by ModeshiftStars which is a scheme that recognises businesses that have shown excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable and active travel.

Phil Saunders of Go Travel Solutions said “As the coordinators of the Getting to Work scheme at Fosse Park, we’re delighted to see Next leading the way in promoting and enabling more sustainable travel among staff.”

Adrian Young, Fosse Park Management Team said “It’s fantastic that our Next store at Fosse Park has achieved a Gold Accredited Travel Plan, and we hope that this achievement encourages more retailers at Fosse Park to embark on their own Travel Plan Journeys.”

Gail Parkes from Modeshift said

“With over 100 Next sites now accredited and Fosse Park being awarded a Gold Modeshift STARS Accreditation this a huge credit to Sarah and her team of Travel Ambassadors who have successfully encouraged staff to increase walking and cycling levels in their daily commute.  More staff are converting to hybrid and electric vehicles which is really down to the on-going dedication of Sarah and her team who work hard to change behaviours and achieve their target of getting every site and store accredited by the end on 2022.

Well done to everyone involved you should be really proud of this outstanding achievement.”

Picture Left to right:

Adrian Young (Fosse Management), Kelly Stroud (Next Employee and Travel2Next Ambassador), Sarah McAlinden (Facilities Coordinator – Travel2Next), Gail Parkes (Modeshift) and Phil Saunders (Go Travel Solutions)

Map Your Clutter

Mapping your clutter takes just seconds

All you need to do is:

1. Take a walk in your local area and see if you can spot any clutter – our website has a list of the kind of thing you need to look out for.

(Of course, if you already know where there’s a clutter problem, you can use the map straight away – although we’d always recommend fitting another walk into your day!).

2. Add what you find, with or without a photo, to our super-easy-to-use interactive map.

3. Repeat step 2 if you have more than one.

4. You can also write to your local council about the issues you find too.

I hope you will join us this week. Let’s reclaim our pavements!

Walking Works

Those that work in the below areas are eligible to make walking pledges for a chance to win the £20 High Street Voucher Click here to make your pledge

Buckinghamshire, North Lincolnshire, Surrey, Leicester Highcross, Hampshire,
West Sussex, Hertfordshire, Blackpool, Durham

BetterPoints challenge for Gedding Road employees

Do You Work At Gedding Road?

If yes, you are eligible to take part in the Better Points challenge, please click here to view details of the scheme in full. The scheme will run from 18th March to 21st April. There is still time to join.

In brief:

Download the Betterpoints app from Google Play Store or the App Store

Open the App and go to the ‘Add referral code’ and enter ‘Mynextjourney’ and click submit.

Click on ‘programmes’ from the bottom menu and ‘Join Programme’

Create a team and invite between 4-6 colleagues to work together to reach goals and earn BetterPoints.

Once your team has been created you can monitor your progress to find out if your goals are being achieved.