Media Release
Date: 11/8/16
EVERYBODY LEISURE TO HELP MORE YOUNG PEOPLE TO LEARN TO CYCLE
The Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded Cheshire East Council with a grant of £590k for Bikeability cycle training until 2020 and Everybody Sport and Recreation will be delivering the programme on behalf of the Council due to the success of the scheme over the last two years.
Since May 2014 Everybody Sport and Recreation has delivered cycling training to over 12,000 children in cycling proficiency.
Andrew Kolker, Chairman of Trustees at Everybody Sport and Recreation commented, ‘Bikeability is a great way to encourage children and their families to get active and have fun on their bikes. The programme teaches vital road safety information and cycling skills, helping to reduce the number of children being injured on our roads and enabling them to enjoy cycling safely.
‘We are proud to have been able to teach over 12,000 children to learn to cycle in Cheshire East and look forward to welcoming more on to the programme due to the recently awarded funding grant from the Department for Transport.’
Deputy Leader of the Council, Councillor David Brown commented, ‘To gain this level of funding from the Department for Transport is a tremendous achievement and reflects all the recent hard work that the leisure trust has undertaken on behalf of the Council and local residents, particularly young people.
‘There is a fantastic feelgood factor about cycling in Cheshire East at the moment and securing this funding until 2020 to teach young people to cycle is a further reminder of just how committed we are to making the Borough a healthy and happy place to live for all our residents.
‘With Chris Froome winning the Tour de France, the cycling at the Olympics in full swing and of course the Tour of Britain coming to Cheshire in less than a month, this news could not have come at a better time.’
The bikeability grant comes just weeks after Cheshire East Council was awarded £350,000 from the Department of Transport to promote cycling and walking locally. The Access to Employment and Skills Through Active Travel project aims to get more people on their bikes and making journeys on foot or by public transport.
Bikeability is ‘cycling proficiency’ for the 21st century, designed to give the next generation the skills and confidence to ride their bikes on today’s roads.
There are three Bikeability levels, with each level designed to help improve cycling skills, no matter what the cyclist knows already. Levels 1, 2 and 3 take trainees on a journey from the basics of balance and control, all the way through to planning and making a journey by themselves on busier roads.
Training is usually delivered in schools, however Everybody Sport and Recreation also run a number of holiday camps throughout the year at leisure centres across Cheshire East.
To find out what training is available for your child, contact your school or Everybody Sport and Recreation. Visit www.everybody.org.uk or email: [email protected]
Notes to Editor
Everybody Sport & Recreation – Everybody is a charitable trust established to run public leisure services in the Cheshire East area. The trust aims to provide ‘leisure for life’ by changing lives through healthy recreation. The charity operates 15 leisure facilities as well as leisure development and outreach programmes and the new Everybody Academy, providing local training and career opportunities. For more information please visit: www.everybody.org.uk or follow on Twitter @ebleisure
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