I met up with Beccy today- Cycle Champion for Wolverhampton. Basically we spent the morning scoping out projects for 2010. The good news is,
that the Children Services have given a lump of cash to the Council and they are going to build a BMX track and start a recycle/maintenance project. The works starts soon and come the Spring the projects will be up and running.
Beccy has only been in post for a couple of months and has been gradually finding her feet - also in that time, she has become a National Standards Instructor.
In the coming months she will be working with a Women's Centre - where 2 of the staff want to lead rides and instruct. The Cycle Champions programme will part fund their instructors course. The Centre is in an area of deprivation and is a drop in for teenage mums, BME groups and young girls that have dropped out of school. So great stuff planned and so nice to have such an enthusiastic development officer on board.
See you next month Beccy......!
Beccy has only been in post for a couple of months and has been gradually finding her feet - also in that time, she has become a National Standards Instructor.
In the coming months she will be working with a Women's Centre - where 2 of the staff want to lead rides and instruct. The Cycle Champions programme will part fund their instructors course. The Centre is in an area of deprivation and is a drop in for teenage mums, BME groups and young girls that have dropped out of school. So great stuff planned and so nice to have such an enthusiastic development officer on board.
See you next month Beccy......!
4 comments:
any idea where to buy a decent secondhand bike in wolves? not looking for anything very fancy, just but durable...around the £100 mark?
Hmmm? I'll check with my officer there and get back to you.....
Reading between the lines it seems that the officer has done very little other than latch onto existing schemes? Would it not have been better to have spent their salary on these projects as well as focussing any additional funding? Allocating a cycling resource to Wolverhampton is a bit like sending coals to Newcastle, there are rich cycling resources here already, unlike neighbouring Sandwell and Dudley for example, where development work is badly needed.
Anonymous, you would be able to source a bike second-hand through Fred Williams Cycles, even if they haven't got one, they will know someone who might be able to help. You don't say what you want to use it for.
Helen, did your officer come back with any useful advice?
Hi, I am the officer in question and my name is Beccy. If you would like to find out a bit more about the champions project then give me a call on 01902 554755. The idea of the champions is to help set up sustainable groups therefore it wouldn't be realistic to just hand out money when it is training, support and resources that groups need. As we are targeting groups that may never have thought about cycling before, hence existing resources are often still not adequate for them, for example people with disabilities. Sandwell and Dudley do indeed require development work but the lottery funding only covers Wolverhampton where the council were able to match fund and host the position. I am more than happy to offer advice to people from Sandwell and Dudley and they are more than welcome to join in with projects here.
For a low cost bike there is the option of volunteering at our soon to be launched recycle workshop where you can learn repair skills and work on a bike you can keep. £100 won't get you very much in terms of second hand bikes but it is worth checking listings in the Express and Star, other local papers, gum tree and ebay websites.
Also check with your employer to see if they are signed up to the governments cycle to work scheme, where a loan can be accessed to purchase a bike from one of the local shops (Freds, leisure lakes or halfords). Monthly repayments are made via a salary deduction before tax.
For any more info give me a call on the number above or drop me an email at beccy.marston@ctc.org.uk.
Hope this helps.
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