How to ride a bike… and other adventures

Gosh, it’s a very exciting time here at The You Can Hub. The You Can Bike Too project team supported by the unstoppable Ruth Brannan have had an amazing response to all of their hard work so far. The team have found that there are people out there who have never ridden a bike, don’t think they can ride a bike, or have ridden a bike in the past and think they’ve forgotten how to! And then there’s the people who just want to have a go at these interesting looking bikes! So how can I get involved, I hear you cry? I can sense your cycling legs itching to get started…

All you need to do is come along to the Bike Bike Day at Milton Country Park on Wednesday 4th April. There will be loads of different bikes to try, and all sorts of bike-related excitement to get involved with. Who knows what you’ll go home with? So come on, give it a try – fun for all the family!

Where have you seen our poster? Get involved with the poster-hunt over on our facebook page.

Thank you to… This event wouldn’t have been possible without our lovely partners, seen on our flyer above – not forgetting Cambridgeshire County Council!

 

Lou Shackleton

Change-maker in Chief

Up a gear!

This week looks to be one that gets us going in the right direction! So much to tell you….where do I start?

News on the block

Tokens that have been collected on behalf of ‘You Can Bike Too’ were given in to Cambridge Building Society offices (and Cambridge News offices) by supporters of our fantastic project…the aim being to benefit from ‘Cash For the Community,‘ an idea from the Cambridge News (in partnership with Cambridge Building Society) which was about cutting tokens that were printed daily and given in….however there were 25 projects nominated for a share of £10,000. In total 39,000 tokens were given in for all the projects! So we are going to be allocated £394 which I think is brilliant – but better than the cash is the publicity that this will bring to this project!

So today Aaran (Project Team Volunteer) and I are going to the presentation at the Cambridge News offices in Milton…woooh! A photo opportunity I feel! (Honestly I just can’t help using exclamation marks!)

Instructor Training to take place

Monday and Tuesday – Wheels for All (Cycling Projects) are going to deliver 2 days of instructor training to about 14 people – including myself, the manager of Milton Country Park, a parent, a carer or two, a couple of professionals and 3 or 4 young men with learning difficulties…how cool and inclusive is that?! Thanks to South Cambs Council for paying for this and thanks to Milton Country Park for hosting this training.

Wheels For All Training gives individuals, carers and support staff the confidence to work with adapted cycles for their clients or family member so that all can enjoy the benefits of cycling in a sociable environment.

Once we have these volunteers trained up we edge closer to the day when we see All Ability Cycling take place in Cambridge!

Funding

On Wednesday one of the project team and myself are going to Guildhall in Cambridge to make a presentation to Cycling and Pedestrian Members Steering group ….they are going to decide if the project can have some funding for the next year, with an emphasis of making sure that the project team of people with disabilities are kept in the picture as this project develops. This is an essential requirement…the idea for All Ability cycling project  came from a young man with disabilities and we need to make sure that in our effort to get this off the ground that these amazing volunteers are at the front of this project!

And on the other days I’m off to my ‘day’ job!….my other life! Till next time…

Editor: Update to this post – here’s a photo of Aaran and Ruth collecting their Cambridge Evening News cheque!

Lou Shackleton

Change-maker in Chief

Token Excitement!

Well nearly time to count them up! I had 400 given to me by the social work student Karen!!! Aaran bought his along to project meeting….there has been some real token collecting going on! I had to resist the challenge on Sunday night of rummaging around in people’s blue bins!! (The ones where there may have been Cambridge News with tokens still intact!) I’m also getting lots of messages ….people telling me from far and wide how they are collecting…I feel as though everyone deserves a big pat on the back…..or a chocolate!  So thanks guys!!! I’m sure we should get a little bit of the £10,000?

 

Lou Shackleton

Change-maker in Chief