Spring 2009 report
Bike It General Round-up
About Bike It
Round the world cycle adventurer Alastair Humphreys with his new Bike It friends
This term pupils, parents and teachers from 123 schools across Britain took to their bikes in a bid to complete and win the 46,000 mile Round the World Virtual Bike Race. This event was inspired by cycling adventurer Alastair Humphreys, who spent four years cycling 46,000 miles around the world. An amazing 94,000 journeys by bike were generated throughout the four-week race in March, and the national race winner was Farnham Common Junior school, Slough. As an example of the energy put into the race, 14,000 journeys were made by the Bike It schools in Reigate and Banstead alone, in just four weeks! London boroughs strongly support the Bike It project, with Lambeth Borough Council offering to finance bikers’ breakfasts in schools. They have also set up a Dr Bike scheme with local training providers (CTUK), to do bike check sessions at the schools for parents and children. James Scott, the Bike It officer for Tower Hamlets, London, was invited by Bengali TV Channel ‘S’ to appear on their live chat show, to talk about Bike It in the context of community health. Channel ‘S’ is the biggest Bengali channel outside of Bangladesh, and a recent UK survey also found it to be the most viewed Bengali television channel in the UK.
Bike It is a Sustrans project that is enabling many thousands of children to cycle to school everyday. It does this by helping schools to make the case for cycling in their school travel plans; supporting cycling champions in schools and demonstrating that cycling is a popular choice amongst children and their parents; and, most importantly, giving children the skills and information they need to cycle so their parents can have the peace of mind to let them. Each Bike It officer works with up to twelve schools for at least a year to create a positive cycling culture that continues long after the Bike It officer has finished with them. If you would like to find out more about Bike It, please visit the Bike It project pages of the Sustrans website at www.sustrans.org.uk/bikeit Bike It is made possible with the ongoing support of the Bike Hub and additional funding from organisations such as the Big Lottery Fund, Transport for London, Cycling England, the Welsh Assembly Government, NHS Primary Care Trusts and many local authorities.
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Regional Round-up South East Reigate and Banstead 13 Bike It schools from Reigate and Banstead competed in this year’s national Round the World Virtual Bike Race competition. The regional winners were Warren Mead Junior school and Furzefield Primary school making an astounding 4,000 journeys in just three weeks!
have drawn up suggestions for improvements to walking and cycling routes in their area. These results will be presented in letter form to the councillors and heads of department at Bournemouth council, and have informed a Links to Schools bid for infrastructure in the area.
racks were full to bursting for four weeks solid and managed 1,722 journeys to school by bike over the month! Ultimately, Farnham Common school was the national winner with a total of 2,750 cycle trips in 20 days, with an average of 45% of children cycling, plus many parents and siblings.
Gayle arranged the cycling adventurer and celebrity speaker Alastair Humphreys, to talk to children at eight of the schools who were taking part in the Virtual Bike Race, about his adventures on his amazing round the world bike tour. 70 parents also took the opportunity to be inspired by Alastair at an exclusive evening talk put on just for Bike It school parents at Reigate Priory school.
Aylesbury This term, emphasis was on each school running its own Bike Week, tailored to best suit them. Schools were told that the Bike It officer would be theirs for the week, and they could use him to run any type of event they wanted.
Ashford David has had a busy term, with nine of his schools taking part in the Round the World Virtual Bike Race. Kingsnorth Primary school has formed a Go-Ride Bike Club with 20 members. The Ashford British Cycling Club (Ashford Derailleurs) achieved Club Mark status through David’s efforts as the Club Administrator.
Bournemouth and Poole Jason got ten Bike It schools together at a special day in preparation for this term. Working with the children on several recent projects, chosen by the schools themselves, has also proved very successful. Heatherlands First school in Poole held their Keep it Wheel Week. This popular event culminated on Friday with a phenomenal show of 155 bikes and 90 decorated scooters, and was truly unforgettable for everyone involved. This spectacle was a fitting press launch for Bike It Bournemouth and Poole. Kings Park Primary school students
Aston Clinton school’s week took place after the heavy snows. With pavements still iced over it was amazing to see that 16 people still cycled in. By the end of the week, bike business was back to normal, with 70 pupils cycling in and the school’s bike racks overflowing. Slough / South Buckinghamshire Clare delivered 40 hours of cycle related lessons and ran hour-long cycle skills sessions for over 200 Year 3 and 4 children to get them more confident on their bikes. This has helped increase numbers of cyclists from the lower years and has more than doubled the number of cyclists in the schools that have taken part. Five of her schools took part in the national Virtual Bike Race. Butlers Court’s cycle
Bling your bike!
Brighton and Hove Ben has continued with his busy schedule. For Carlton Hill Primary school, he sorted a contact with local bike shop Freedom Bikes. Saltdean Primary school held a Bike to School breakfast with 134 attendees. Their bike storage was installed in February and it is already completely overflowing.
South West Bristol area There were staff changes afoot in Bristol, with Emma Mather promoted to Bike It regional supervisor, and Ian Tsang replacing part of her role as a new Bike It officer for Bristol. The City also achieved Cycling City status, which has provided two fully funded posts which are being supported by funding from the Primary Care Trust, allowing us to create four posts in total. Both Ian and Emma have found that Longwell Green Primary school has thrown itself enthusiastically into the project. The school has decided to scrap the car park at
the front of the school and turn it all over to cycle storage. Only the disabled parking bay will be left. Bath and North East Somerset Jim Imerson took over the Bath and NE Somerset part of Emma’s role which is now a fully funded, full-time post. The authority is really pushing its Healthy School Plus programme, and Jim has found the authority very enthusiastic about the project. They have gone out of their way to support Jim and have also funded some Dr Bike sessions.
Scooters parked up for a Bike It Breakfast at Christchurch CE Primary School in Bristol
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Regional Round-up East Midlands Derby Brackensdale Junior school has completed several classroom sessions exploring the children’s own barriers to cycling. Around 75% of the children wished to cycle to school, but many didn’t own a bike, or had one that was too small. A recent Dr Bike session showed 68 bikes in a fairly poor condition - almost 30% of the school roll. Anna is in contact with the family learning service that is looking to work alongside the Bike It project in Brackensdale Junior school over the summer term. Lincoln The Round the World Virtual Bike Race was a huge local success. Four Lincoln schools taking part made 5,199 journeys by bike in four
weeks. Dunholme St Chad’s Primary school had up to 58% of the school cycling, including the head teacher for the first time in four years. Next term, Vincent plans to use the Lincoln Grand Prix cycle race as a platform to encourage more cycling. Leicester Kestrels’ Field Primary school held an unusual assembly, involving its Bike It crew running a ‘locking’ assembly. The group acted out three short scenarios for the whole school, to show how to lock a bike securely. The summer term will see Rowan working with the new Go Ride Coach to set up links with Speedway and Leicester Road Club, and establishing a Cycling Club at Abbey Primary school.
Round the World ‘Bling Your Bike’ pupils at Ling Moor Primary, Lincoln
West Midlands Coventry Andy continues where George left off. The focus is on his new schools, though Andy will continue to work with George’s established Bike It schools. Andy now has 12 schools in the scheme, seven of which took part in the Virtual Bike Race – the first time they’d engaged in a National Bike It Event. The schools did tremendously well, producing almost 2,600 cycle trips during the competition and even managing to get featured in a double page spread in the local Coventry newspaper! Playground skills
Birmingham The bike shop Cycle Chain has been instrumental in offering Dr Bike servicing for Bike It schools. The Bike It officer carries out the safety checks and, where a repair is not possible, the parents have the option to pay just £10 for the shop to come and carry out the repairs. Cycle Chain have also helped to run a very successful parents fayre, where second-hand bikes were sold at reduced rate. This event at St Gerard’s school was so successful that all bikes were sold within the first half hour. Cycle Chain have also established maintenance contracts with three Bike It schools, and have provided a pool of at least ten bikes to each school to help overcome the fact that some children don’t own
bikes. Perry Beeches Junior school had an extremely successful Cycle to School (C2S) day which was attended by the Big Lottery Fund, attracting 115 bikes. To cope with increasing demand the school has installed additional ‘toast racks’ to accommodate 28 cycles, which means that the school can now provide cycle storage for up to 40 bikes. The end of the term saw all existing and potential new schools coming together at a very successful Birmingham school champion action day. 92% of delegates said that the programme of events on the day was excellent. We are now recruiting for Bike It posts in Stoke on Trent (two posts) and Shrewsbury.
Regional Round-up Yorkshire and Humberside Sheffield Spring term saw Ruth run seven Bike to School days as the launch events in her schools. Each had Bike Breakfasts and Dr Bike sessions. Some events had Police Community Support Officers getting involved. All of the events were successful, rewarding and very positive. A highlight for the term was the Bike to School day at Totley Primary school, with almost 50% of the school cycling in. The breakfast included delicious croissants, baked fresh in the school oven that morning, and an array of fresh fruits. This produce was kindly provided by the local deli and greengrocer, both of whom have children at the school. The Bike It crew were really great, too, pumping up tyres relentlessly. What with all these efforts, the number of bikes just
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Red Nose Day bike shed opening at Bawtry Mayflower Primary
keeps increasing from school to school! The second Bike It officer for Sheffield Henry Norman has also taken up post and we welcome him to the team. Doncaster Jim has found that Bawtry Mayflower Primary has really taken to Bike It. The staff and pupils are committed and imaginative. After the Simple Solutions to Planet Pollutions sessions that Jim ran with Year 5, a group of the pupils decided to write a school play about reducing environmental impact and presented it to the whole school during an assembly. The cycle shelter is now in place and is packed with bikes every day. The school is committed to getting children Bikeability trained. Jim is
looking to provide funding to trial Level 1 Bikeability training for Year 3. York The City has been awarded Cycling Demonstration status and Jim will be moving to York. We are therefore advertising to fill his current post in Doncaster.
North West Huyton, Knowsley and St Helens Ian took 15 pupils from St Cuthbert’s High school Year 7 to the Manchester Velodrome for three sessions on the track. The sessions were fantastic with the boys gaining so much and learning new skills. By the end of the third session the progression of each rider was clear and the benefits to the boys’ self esteem was immense. The community ride at Eaves Primary continues to grow and has become a favourite among the children, parents and teachers. 50 riders attended February’s ride including pupils, siblings, parents and the police. Ian continues to work with some of the younger children and is thrilled to see a great improvement in their cycling skills. Liverpool and The Wirral Simon continues his Lazy Bone Zone campaign – highlighting the parking on yellow zig-zags which affects many of his schools. Brookdale Primary (Wirral) cycle storage is now in place for 30 bikes and is full to overflowing daily. Simon feels that his favourite moments
this term were in teaching a teacher to cycle and seeing the transformation in a school caretaker who, since getting involved with Bike It, has become a really happy and animated ‘Ditch the Stabilizer’ assistant. He’s now a firm favourite with the younger children who make sure to high five him whenever they pass! Bury Pupils, parents and staff at Hazlehurst Primary school enjoyed a Bike to School Breakfast where almost 20% of pupils on the school roll cycled to school for this one-day event. This wasn’t just a one off though, as pupils really started to get the cycling bug during the school’s Bike to School Week a couple of weeks later. Every day of the week saw between 10–20% of pupils at the school cycling. Stockport and Rochdale The opening of the BMX track at Brookside Primary school was a key event for Nes. Some parents of children at the school had been campaigning for over a year to get a BMX track in the park near to the school and when their efforts came to fruition they asked Nes to get involved with the opening event. For the opening event there was a BMX show from Inertia. We made it a Bright
Bike to School day so that everyone, teachers and children alike, all dressed in their brightest most clashing clothes to be seen and safe. The opening of the BMX track was with a local councillor and many press photographers. A highlight was the demonstration from British Trials champion Aran Cook, complete with a skills session for some children on the BMX track with him. It was also the prize giving for the winner of the postcard competition Emma Shiels, who was presented with a brand new bike. A gobsmacked Emma Shiels is presented with her brand new bike
Lancaster Kathy was very busy both with her schools and with helping out with the national competitions. Kathy has now gone on maternity leave, and we welcome Damian Bonsall who provides maternity cover.
Regional Round-up
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North East Gateshead Roman Road Primary’s enthusiasm resulted in between 18–23% of the school cycling almost every day. The school came second in the national Virtual Bike Race, achieving over 1,600 journeys in the four weeks of the race. In March, continuing the success in national competitions, Cameron Straughan, who won winter’s national design a flag for your bike competition, was presented with a brand new Islabike in front of his proud parents. South Tyneside’s stabiliser free sessions at Ashley Primary school were popular and successful. Alan was interviewed by South Tyneside Central TV at the school to show what great projects had happened or were underway in South Tyneside and Gateshead. Darlington Claire took a local councillor on a cycle ride around the ward, after the councillor launched a poster competition in local
schools to address poor parking habits and problems for residents. The councillor has now asked Darlington Borough Council if she can borrow one of their loan bikes to see if she really can swap some of her journeys for cycling ones and has asked for some ‘cycling top tips’ to include in her next newsletter.
Debbie moves from Teesside to take over from Claire, and we welcome Pamela Jenkins as the new Bike It officer for the Teesside.
Teesside Thanks to additional funding from Stockton-on-Tees Primary Care Trust, a Get Cycling Roadshow visited the six Bike It schools in Stockton. Pupils at the schools had the opportunity to try out a whole range of pedal-powered machines, even a seven-seater-circle-cycle! Many pupils got into the spirit of the day by cycling to school in the morning, and bike sheds were brimming over. Barley Fields Primary school in Ingleby Barwick saw a record 267 bikes in their shed – that’s around 64% of pupils riding to school on one single day!
Stockton pupils try out a seven-seater-circle-cycle
East of England Harlow and Cheshunt Bart has been settling into his new post, identifying and working with schools in the area. Bikeability is now offered to all primary schools in the Harlow area, and he is now able to offer Bikeability training courses to all the Bike It schools in Cheshunt, too. Bart has negotiated discounts with cycle shops in Cheshunt, and visited the cycle shops in Harlow. Bart has met with the Harlow CTC group and has also met with the Sports development officers for Harlow and Cheshunt. Thames Gateway This was originally one post co-funded by the Big Lottery Fund and the local authorities covering Basildon, Thurrock and Southend. Southend recently achieved Cycling Demonstration town status and wished to fund a Bike It post solely for their area. At the same time the South West Essex Primary Care Trust offered further funding to assist in promoting Bike It in Basildon and
Luton, Bedford, St Albans This term Richard was recognised by British Cycling for his Go-Ride work in schools, and he has linked riders from Luton schools to the local cycling club with help from the County Sports Partnership. Wheatfields Bike It Breakfast on a cold and foggy January morning Thurrock. We discussed the situation with our representative from the Big Lottery Fund who agreed their funding could be re-focussed on Basildon and Thurrock. The result is that we now have sufficient funding to create separate posts in Basildon and Thurrock, turning the original post into three posts. Graham Pearl has taken the role of Bike It officer for Southend, and the Thurrock post has been filled by Katie van Dop and we welcome her to the team.
He also obtained agreement for additional or new cycle storage facilities at six of his schools. Staff at Sundon Park Junior school are reporting that their children have gone ‘bike mad’ since Bike It started in September when nobody cycled to school. Gt Yarmouth Kevin has been selecting his schools, and meeting with the county’s Road Safety team to discuss Bikeability training and the impact in the area. We are now recruiting for Cambridge and Colchester.
Regional Round-up
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London Bike It continues to grow in London. It started in 2006 with two officers, Andy and Marina, working in 20 schools. Their achievements led to a team of six officers, plus one Bike It supervisor working in 48 schools across 13 London boroughs. We continue to receive funding from Transport for London and the Big Lottery Fund to run the programme. In addition to this, we are very pleased to have Bike It officers - James and Georgie - funded by two of London’s Primary Care Trusts (Tower Hamlets and Westminster). This reflects the important health benefit of helping more children use their bikes regularly, and hopefully getting them into a cycling habit that will keep them healthy for life. Holly Bruford, who joined Sustrans as a Bike It officer in late 2007, is now in charge of overseeing and developing the programme in London and the East of England. Holly is working to diversify Bike It across London by opening up the 2009/2010 application process to London boroughs who have not yet participated in the programme, with a focus on communities and areas where cycling currently has a low profile.
Maintenance skills session Arnhem Wharf Primary school
Our newest Bike It officers, Felix and Ali, started this term. Felix has worked as a freelance cycling instructor across London for the past three years, and is in schools delivering practical, hands-on support to increase cycling levels. Ali is taking a new direction for Bike It in London, in looking to work predominantly with Black and Minority Ethnic communities located in outer London boroughs as from September. Ali, who speaks Hindi and Urdu, already has experience working in these areas as a fully accredited cycling instructor. After delivering a talk about the Bike It project to parents at Cubitt Town Primary School it became clear that the majority of parents had never learnt to ride a bike, and that many of those that had, had long since forgotten. They were excited to learn about the project and were happy for their children to ride to school and to take part in bike-related activities and events. The parents asked if they too could be included in the Bike It programme. They wanted to learn to ride or refine their skills, the basics of bike maintenance and to be taken on a bike ride in their local area. Tower Hamlets have generously funded the project aimed at parents called Bike It U Can 2.
Regional Round-up
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Wales Port Talbot/Neath Like everyone, Louise had trouble with the snow. A week’s worth of activities had to be cancelled due to the weather conditions. Although very pretty, the snow caused some serious last-minute planning and rearranging of activities. A favourite non-snow moment came courtesy of Pontrhydyfen Primary school. Set in the Afan valley in a small village with a fantastic community, the Bike Breakfast was held on a sunny day. Over half the children at school attend with lots of parents involved. The school was so pleased they booked another breakfast for the summer term there and then.
Ysgol Maes Owen-Towyn school had a special event, in that they won the design a banner event for all Bike It schools in North Wales. Year 4 pupil Georgia Lunt created the winning design, which was printed on a banner for all 12 Bike It schools in the Conwy area. There was an assembly and presentation of the prize to the school and to Georgia, from the Deputy Education Minister Paul Davies and the local Welsh Assembly Member Darren Millar. The press also attended as well as the county’s Road Safety Team. All the hard work of organising the competition paid off, and Mike’s reward was the teachers’ satisfaction and the looks on the children’s faces.
Louise has also been heavily involved in delivering cycle-related lessons at her schools, as well as practical puncture repair sessions.
Mike has now left the project to rejoin the Probation Service. We wish Mike well in his new role and look forward to welcoming his replacement Gwen Thomas.
Blaenbaglan Primary school arranged that their Bike It crew had a weekly slot in the all-school assembly throughout the entire term, to promote cycling.
A ‘Love your Bike’ session at Rhydyfro Primary school
Conwy Mike Murphy felt that this term working in the Conwy area, we have been fully supported by the Road Safety Team. Response from the schools has been favourable, and very positive links have been made which promise to lead to successful future relationships. Mike is also enjoying great support from the local police. They are keen to promote safety and bike security, to the point where they have donated bike locks and helped with security coding sessions.
About Sustrans Bike It is delivered by Sustrans, the UK’s leading sustainable transport charity. Sustrans’ vision is a world in which people choose to travel in ways that benefit their health and the environment. We work on practical, innovative solutions to the transport challenges facing us all. To find out more about Sustrans or to become a Sustrans Supporter please visit www.sustrans.org.uk or call 0845 113 00 65. Sustrans, 2 Cathedral Square, Bristol BS1 5DD. Bike It is supported via the Bike Hub. The Bike Hub is a cycle industry initiative developed by The Bicycle Association of Great Britain and the Association of Cycle Traders to generate funds to support the future of cycling in the UK. Independent cycle retailers and companies are contributing to the Bike Hub fund, which is investing in major projects to encourage more cycling, particularly among young people. Photo credits: Jess Squires (cover image) and Sustrans staff
Registered Charity No. 326550 (England and Wales) SCO39263 (Scotland)
Supported by:
as well as many local authorities and NHS Primary Care Trusts.