The POWER Story
September 2019
Elaine took the leap – after 14 years in luxury brands and motorsport – and began to peel POWER off the vision board she’d started in Australia, in 2012, with a plan to launch in Spring 2020.
March 2020
The world went into lockdown, Elaine was unable to launch POWER as an in-person, static bike-based immersive movement experience, so instead launched POWER Online; a Pay-What-You-Can virtual movement experience, for any movement, anywhere. POWER Online was the connection everyone craved, and the SHIFT everyone needed.
POWER Online …
… showcased POWER as a uniquely bananas, brave space for all types of movement. Runners (68%), walkers, paddle boarders, dancers and skiers were invited to brandish bananas with words on, at their Zoom screens, inspiring Elaine’s bananachat, and connecting a bunch of 3,330 worldwide
Four things you should know about POWER Online;
1. Whilst waiting a month for broadband installation, Elaine burnt through 98.6 GB of mobile data, delivering POWER Online.
2. Debs, never missed a POWER Online Thursday. Her magic window became an infamous POWER landmark, home to the first banana exchange, and a ritual that continues today.
3. Elaine’s gin trolley is another POWER relic. Originally, home to Elaine’s laptop, stacked on top of a box of antibacterial wipes; health and safety improved when Elaine invested in a second hand 50″ TV and later a wall bracket which left her neighbours’ banana yellow bedside tables, gaffer-taped one on top of the other, redundant.
4. Fancy dress was encouraged at every opportunity; highlights included Elaine wearing a ‘100 bananas dress’ to celebrate the 100th POWER Online in August 2020, 365 paper bananas to celebrate BANANAVERSARY in April 2021 – one year of POWER Online – and 100 slabs of ‘baked with love’ by the bunch banana bread, on National Banana Bread Day, February 2021.
POWER Online delivered a bespoke live virtual movement experience for Bacardi-Martini Limited in Miami…
… as well as a recorded screen-break movement experience for an Australian software company, and two live charity fundraiser events for Mind, the mental health charity, and The Sussex Snowdrop Trust.
POWER Online continues as a live virtual movement experience for corporates, and charity fundraisers.
Learn more here
POWER Live
Making the most of a break in lockdown, the first POWER-To-You live experience was delivered: POWER in the Vineyard for The Collective.
November 2021
The arrival of Queen B; strong bum, long wheel base Transit, POWER wagon.
A special note of thanks to Elaine’s friend who leant her horse van (complete with hay) week in week out, to make POWER happen prior to Queen B.
Lockdown Lifted
Elaine was out and about delivering static bikes, headphones, and bananas, anywhere and everywhere, as per the vision.
Collaborating with Chichester businesses and using the power of nature; POWER Pop Ups appeared on grass, on the beach, on a red carpet of poinsettia, and even on a boat.
June 2022
First merch. Not just any water bottle. As with all things POWER, there’s a story.
Elaine was given a branded water bottle at a lululemon festival, in June 2019. She loved this bottle, used it every day, and thought if lululemon can have bottles made, so can POWER.
After much detective work, she found the bottles were made in California by Specialized, the bike people. After months of back and forth design, upgrading the cap (it’s always about the detail), and customs, the first POWER bottles arrived.
Becky became a familiar face…
… and much-needed second pair of hands; lifting and shifting bikes with Elaine, to bring the POWER vision to life.
2023
A year of even more innovation and pushing boundaries to raise the bar on bananas experiences. And for the first time, live experiences went beyond static bikes, with the creation of high-energy experiences off-static bikes (walk, run, skate etc…), POWER Yin and On-Demand.
The first high-energy experience off-the-bike…
… saw (static bikes AND) runners, walkers, zipliners, and football players, connecting and shifting as one bunch, live.
POWER Yin
The new kid on the block; intentionally calm and peaceful bananas. Even more inclusive, accessible POWER, led by Becky. The movement; Tai Chi – standing, seated, and in wheelchairs – guided relaxation and meditation.
Charity collaborations continue…
- POWER at the Brighton i360 for the Sweaty Betty Foundation
- POWER Yin for the MS Society
- POWER at the Royal Parks Half Marathon for the Sweaty Betty Foundation
2023 Pop-ups got wilder
Taking wild+free to a whole new dimension, POWER in the Jungle and POWER with the Alpacas were added to the calendar. A fiftieth birthday, on a boat, and a hen party POWER double, were amongst private requests to deliver POWER-To-You.
Transforming work spaces
POWER landed in the atrium of Sweaty Betty’s London Head Office, popped up in the Training Facility of a global luxury brand, and mixed with the childrens toys, at a Chichester-based nursery school; delivering an extraordinary POWER playground to a variety of work spaces.
and chill
The first POWER Yin Pop Up was met with knockout success. Collaborating with a Chichester-based aromatherapist and candlemaker, POWER took it’s multi-sensory experiences to a new level with POWER Yin by Candlelight.
2024
The year kicked off with a glimpse of the POWER vision big-bunch scale experiences; a bunch of 60, walking, running, dancing (and scribbling on bananas) in the shadows of the iconic Battersea Power Station, as part of Sweaty Betty’s International Women’s Day celebration, where Elaine was also part of a live Women in Business panel talk.
POWER at the Power Station…
… was where we met Caroline, who took her POWER headphones off and said “I want POWER at my workplace” which led to POWER Yin at TikTok.
POWER Yin…
… continued to wow big name corporates; returning to Sweaty Betty for their leadership team off-site, and Bacardi, online, for their advanced leadership program in Miami.
Pro-bono POWER grew in 2024…
… with regular support for disability groups, as well as continued charity partnerships with; The Sussex Snowdrop Trust and the Sweaty Betty Foundation. New for 2024; the Chichester Bike Project. Elaine was asked to be an Ambassador, and on the Board, when they launched this community-owned project, in June.
Sponsors
2024 was the first time we worked with sponsors; to support banana currency and maintain accessible community pricing for two of the summer’s hottest POWER Pop Ups; ‘on the Beach and ‘on the Water.
2025
Support for the Sweaty Betty Foundation continued with POWER Yin at The Shard
… 800′ above London, Becky led an extra-special and unique ’empower, inspire, move’ POWER Yin practice to celebrate International Women’s Day, with Sweaty Betty and double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes.
the London Pop Up – POWER with Jane Wake at Tooting Bec Lido – came to the Home of POWER in Chichester
… Elaine first met Jane Wake when Jane stepped off a stage in London and said “you’re the banana lady”. A unique collaboration, and POWER first followed – a Pop Up for the London community, featuring three movements and POWER banana bread. The sequel, in Chichester, saw the London bunch travel over 5 hours to be part of it, again.
banana currency in action
POWER Yin Online for West Sussex Carer Support, a fortnightly virtual experience, was extended beyond its three month trial and had a profound impact through the screen.
power on the beach became an icon
… overheard in a job interview in London, the interviewer said “Bracklesham, isn’t that where they do bananas?”
A growing London and A3 bunch regularly travelled for twice as long as their POWER Pop Up experience (and longer) to be part of it.
The community bunch grew exponentially through word of mouth, and the independent businesses in this magic corner of the UK – Bracklesham Bay – grew together.
flower power continued
… an invitation to Pop Up at a new countryside events destination on the south coast of the UK inspired POWER in the Sunflowers – a new addition to the Summer Pop Up calendar which sold out in record-time – as did the Winter Pop Up in its fourth year, POWER in the Poinsettias..
banana split
the advent-ure begins
… a historic chapter in Elaine’s story inspired support for My Sisters’ House, Women’s Centre. Elaine invited the bunch to join her in giving the gift of comfort, dignity and wellbeing with one toiletry item every day during Advent – the POWER Advent Calendar was born and the bunch went wild for it.
Eyes peeled for the evolution of this new and powerful (purple) charity focus for POWER in 2026 …
POWER on-demand loading …
The cries of “I need you in my ears when …“ became impossible to ignore.
As 2025 comes to a close POWER On-Demand, a digital product, deepening connection to self – self-led movement, mindset, bananas, anytime, anywhere – is in motion …
If you’d love to sponsor, or be first to know when On-Demand is available, please, get in touch.
