Hello You 161: With the bikers at Montford Bridge

It’s the first Bench episode of 2026!Here’s something I started doing on the radio about twenty years ago, and I’ve carried on as part of Hello You the Shropshire podcast.It’s a very simple idea: I sit on a bench, somewhere in Shropshire, and talk with whoever sits on the bench with me.‘It’s just the nicest feeling in the world’Every Tuesday evening during British Summer Time dozens, often hundreds of bikers descend on the picnic area around the Montford Bridge Café, just off the A5, for tea and coffee, burgers and chips but mostly just to hang out and chat.This struck me as a great opportunity to record a ‘Bench’ episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast, and Amanda Mullins of Shropshire and Powys Advanced Riders had the same idea.So last Tuesday I went along. In this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast you can hear what happened.I met some wonderful people, learned about great ideas like Motorbiker Acts of Random Kindness’ brilliant Bike and Brew Passport, felt the warmth of the welcome from the biking community and heard some fantastic stories about what biking means and has done for people. ‘The freedom and self-belief from it has been phenomenal … I can be me’Whether you’re astride a bike or not, I can definitely recommend a Tuesday evening at the Montford Bridge Café! I’ll be returning later in the summer to record another ‘Bench’ session, and I’ll be back just for fun sometime soon … not least because I owe Shirley £10 for my Bike and Brew Passport!What do you think of this episode of Hello You?Join in the conversation in the comments: And if you enjoy this podcast, share it with your friends! Where else could I sit on a bench and talk to people?If you know of a bench where there are plenty of people around, let me know?It could be in a town centre in Shropshire or one of our villages. It might be at an event, as in this episode. It could even be a ‘virtual bench’ somewhere, as long as there are folk for me to chat with and listen to.Message me your bench suggestion and I’ll put it on the list! Intelligent, informed, progressive, quirky conversation… for and about Shropshire and the wider world.That’s what I aim to deliver on Hello You the Shropshire podcast. It’s not limited to Shropshire! There are listeners and subscribers not just all over the UK, but all over the world. People like you, who care about and are interested other people.Why not become a member of the Hello You family?Click this button to subscribe, either for free or, to support progressive local public-service audio journalism, take out a paid subscription: Thank you for being thereI’m really grateful to you for taking an interest in my work. If you like it, you’ll know other people who’d like it too, so share it with them? Take care of yourselfThese are challenging times, and we need to look out for one another.Take care of the people around you, and I hope they are taking care of you, too. Hello You - the Shropshire podcast from Jim Hawkins is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimallthetime.substack.com/subscribe