Part of the iVolunteer flipbook for Leeds City Council. This is the contribution of staffer John McPherson. bit.ly/ivolunteerleeds

1. i Volunteer Leeds
John
McPherson
Racing
and
butterflies
OTLEY’S
GRAND
PRIX
AND SAVING
BUTTERFLIES
John flies in as
double volunteer

2. i Volunteer Leeds
John
McPherson
Racing
and
butterflies
Otley’s Grand Prix
On the longest Wednesday each June a small team of
volunteers is able to close roads in the centre of Otley to run the
traditional and popular evening of cycle racing.
Featuring Grand Prix events for the UK’s top men’s and women’s
racing teams, the night also has youth and amateur racing
and has become a fixture on British Cycling’s national calendar
drawing riders and fans from throughout the UK.
Although he’s ‘hung up his racing wheels’, John McPherson
still joins the core team each year, managing PR and media for
Otley Cycle Races. John does media interviews and press work
in the run-up to the event, then looks after radio and TV news
broadcasters at the event, along with press photographers and
the CycleVox TV crew who cover the event for British Eurosport.

3. i Volunteer Leeds
John
McPherson
Racing
and
butterflies
There’s a real camaraderie in domestic
bike racing”, says John “and everyone
involved with our event has got lots
from the sport for many years. For me,
it’s a chance to put something back in
and to be part of the brilliant town I’ve
lived in for 20 years. “ See John
interviewed
by Agence
France-
Presse.
Source:
Daily
Motion

4. i Volunteer Leeds
John
McPherson
Racing
and
butterflies
Saving butterfl ies
As more people, including our own government,
become aware of the crucial role of pollinating insects
to human survival, saving bees and butterflies and
their habitats has become a serious business.
John McPherson has recently joined a small team
of volunteers practising traditional meadow
management techniques in West Yorkshire’s only
specialist butterfly reserve… at Shipley train station!

5. i Volunteer Leeds
John
McPherson
Racing
and
butterflies
“It’s an unlikely spot, but in amongst the platforms
and carparks at Shipley is a tiny oasis of grassland
that this year saw 14 species of butterfly resident,
including the Common Blue and the Marbled White.
Volunteers from Butterfly Conservation’s Yorkshire
branch do the annual cut with hand tools, to ensure
the right mix of grasses and wildflowers for the
butterfly populations to breed and thrive.”
Blessed with a decent bit of garden himself, John is
putting what he learns as a volunteer into practice at
home… although he’s yet to see a Marbled White in
Otley!