Dan Wisher

Dan, 40,  started volunteering at Sheffield Cycling 4 All (SC4A) in September 2022 as an Admin volunteer, once a week we would send him new data to input into our database. This is a task that can be done at home and isn’t very exciting, so we are always grateful to anyone who can do it well and for an extended amount of time. We tried to keep Dan engaged with other admin-based tasks as it appeared that Dan found the admin easy.  We invited him to become a session volunteer on a trial in March 2023, and he was excellent. He picked things up quickly and becomes more confident and chatty the more sessions he does.  Now he does our admin, and one day of session volunteering a week. Dan has supported 38 cycling sessions, and attended training courses including – Mental Health first aid, Equity and equity training, Cycle training, and Disability awareness training.  He also featured in his residents new letter for his volunteer work at SC4A!

I was born in Sheffield and grew up here until I was 14 years old.  I then spent the last two years of my school years living in East Sussex.   I spent two and a half years living in Rotterdam in Holland.  While living there I also spent several months traveling around Europe. I have lived in different parts of England, mostly around London and the South East while working in construction. 

I enjoy computing, outdoor activities such as walking and cycling, especially out in the Peak District.  I enjoy spending time with my family.  I also enjoy traveling, this is something over the last few years I have not had the chance to do as much as I would like but something I would like to do more of in the future. 

I have spent some time out of work due to mental health issues and decided a year and a half ago to try and do some volunteering.  I found out about VAS through speaking to people and arranged an appointment with them.  It was here where it was suggested that Sheffield Cycling 4 All would be a good fit for me. 

I really enjoy my time with SC4A working with the staff, other volunteers and of course the cyclists. 

I find it very rewarding helping a diverse group of people from all walks of life with different disabilities and long-term health conditions and seeing the real benefits it can have on people’s physical and mental health. 

It gives me a chance to meet people from all over Sheffield and the wider area who I otherwise may not have the chance to meet. 

I have also noticed the benefits it has had one personally.  Helping out with this fantastic organisation within this friendly and welcoming group of staff and volunteers makes me feel better about myself and has a positive effect on maintaining my own mental health, boosting my confidence and helping keeping me active. 

I understand from my own experiences in life the importance of trying to keep active and an organisation like SC4A is a great way of promoting this by offering and making accessible a fun activity like cycling for people who may otherwise not take part in this great activity.