Bike ItSpring 2009 report

General Round-up

About Bike ItBike It is a Sustrans project that isenabling many thousands of childrento cycle to school everyday. It doesthis by helping schools to make thecase for cycling in their school travelplans; supporting cycling championsin schools and demonstrating thatcycling is a popular choice amongstchildren and their parents; and, mostimportantly, giving children the skillsand information they need to cycle sotheir parents can have the peace ofmind to let them.

Each Bike It officer works with up totwelve schools for at least a year tocreate a positive cycling culture thatcontinues long after the Bike It officerhas finished with them.

If you would like to find out more aboutBike It, please visit the Bike It projectpages of the Sustrans website atwww.sustrans.org.uk/bikeit

Bike It is made possible with the ongoingsupport of the Bike Hub and additionalfunding from organisations such as theBig Lottery Fund, Transport for London,Cycling England, the Welsh AssemblyGovernment, NHS Primary Care Trustsand many local authorities.

This term pupils, parents and teachers from 123 schools across Britaintook to their bikes in a bid to complete and win the 46,000 mile Roundthe World Virtual Bike Race. This event was inspired by cyclingadventurer Alastair Humphreys, who spent four years cycling 46,000miles around the world.

An amazing 94,000 journeys by bike were generated throughout the four-weekrace in March, and the national race winner was Farnham Common Juniorschool, Slough. As an example of the energy put into the race, 14,000 journeyswere made by the Bike It schools in Reigate and Banstead alone, in just fourweeks!

London boroughs strongly support the Bike It project, with Lambeth BoroughCouncil offering to finance bikers’ breakfasts in schools. They have also set up aDr Bike scheme with local training providers (CTUK), to do bike check sessions atthe schools for parents and children.

James Scott, the Bike It officer for Tower Hamlets, London, was invited byBengali TV Channel ‘S’ to appear on their live chat show, to talk about Bike It inthe context of community health. Channel ‘S’ is the biggest Bengali channeloutside of Bangladesh, and a recent UK survey also found it to be the mostviewed Bengali television channel in the UK.

Round the world cycle adventurer AlastairHumphreys with his new Bike It friends

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Regional Round-up

Reigate and Banstead13 Bike It schools from Reigate andBanstead competed in this year’s nationalRound the World Virtual Bike Racecompetition. The regional winners wereWarren Mead Junior school and FurzefieldPrimary school making an astounding4,000 journeys in just three weeks!

Gayle arranged the cycling adventurer andcelebrity speaker Alastair Humphreys, totalk to children at eight of the schools whowere taking part in the Virtual Bike Race,about his adventures on his amazinground the world bike tour. 70 parents alsotook the opportunity to be inspired byAlastair at an exclusive evening talk put onjust for Bike It school parents at ReigatePriory school.

Bournemouth and PooleJason got ten Bike It schools togetherat a special day in preparation for thisterm. Working with the children onseveral recent projects, chosen by theschools themselves, has also provedvery successful.

Heatherlands First school in Poole heldtheir Keep it Wheel Week. This popularevent culminated on Friday with aphenomenal show of 155 bikes and 90decorated scooters, and was trulyunforgettable for everyone involved. Thisspectacle was a fitting press launch forBike It Bournemouth and Poole. Kings Park Primary school students

have drawn up suggestions forimprovements to walking and cyclingroutes in their area. These results will bepresented in letter form to thecouncillors and heads of department atBournemouth council, and haveinformed a Links to Schools bid forinfrastructure in the area.

AylesburyThis term, emphasis was on each schoolrunning its own Bike Week, tailored tobest suit them. Schools were told that theBike It officer would be theirs for theweek, and they could use him to run anytype of event they wanted.

Aston Clinton school’s week took placeafter the heavy snows. With pavementsstill iced over it was amazing to see that16 people still cycled in. By the end of theweek, bike business was back to normal,with 70 pupils cycling in and the school’sbike racks overflowing.

Slough / South BuckinghamshireClare delivered 40 hours of cycle relatedlessons and ran hour-long cycle skillssessions for over 200 Year 3 and 4children to get them more confident ontheir bikes. This has helped increasenumbers of cyclists from the lower yearsand has more than doubled the number ofcyclists in the schools that have taken part.

Five of her schools took part in the nationalVirtual Bike Race. Butlers Court’s cycle

racks were full to bursting for four weekssolid and managed 1,722 journeys toschool by bike over the month! Ultimately,Farnham Common school was the nationalwinner with a total of 2,750 cycle trips in20 days, with an average of 45% ofchildren cycling, plus many parents andsiblings.

AshfordDavid has had a busy term, with nine ofhis schools taking part in the Round theWorld Virtual Bike Race. KingsnorthPrimary school has formed a Go-RideBike Club with 20 members. The AshfordBritish Cycling Club (Ashford Derailleurs)achieved Club Mark status throughDavid’s efforts as the Club Administrator.

Brighton and HoveBen has continued with his busyschedule. For Carlton Hill Primary school,he sorted a contact with local bike shopFreedom Bikes. Saltdean Primary schoolheld a Bike to School breakfast with 134attendees. Their bike storage was installedin February and it is already completelyoverflowing.

South East

Bristol areaThere were staff changes afoot in Bristol, withEmma Mather promoted to Bike It regionalsupervisor, and Ian Tsang replacing part ofher role as a new Bike It officer for Bristol.The City also achieved Cycling City status,which has provided two fully funded postswhich are being supported by funding fromthe Primary Care Trust, allowing us to createfour posts in total.

Both Ian and Emma have found thatLongwell Green Primary school has thrownitself enthusiastically into the project. Theschool has decided to scrap the car park at

the front of the school and turn it all over tocycle storage. Only the disabled parking baywill be left.

Bath and North East SomersetJim Imerson took over the Bath and NESomerset part of Emma’s role which is now afully funded, full-time post. The authority isreally pushing its Healthy School Plusprogramme, and Jim has found the authorityvery enthusiastic about the project. They havegone out of their way to support Jim andhave also funded some Dr Bike sessions.

South West

Bling your bike!

Scooters parked upfor a Bike It Breakfastat Christchurch CEPrimary School inBristol

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Regional Round-up

DerbyBrackensdale Junior schoolhas completed severalclassroom sessions exploringthe children’s own barriers tocycling. Around 75% of thechildren wished to cycle to school, but many didn’t own abike, or had one that was toosmall. A recent Dr Bike sessionshowed 68 bikes in a fairlypoor condition - almost 30% ofthe school roll. Anna is incontact with the family learningservice that is looking to workalongside the Bike It project inBrackensdale Junior schoolover the summer term.

LincolnThe Round the World VirtualBike Race was a huge localsuccess. Four Lincolnschools taking part made5,199 journeys by bike in four

weeks. Dunholme St Chad’sPrimary school had up to58% of the school cycling,including the head teacher forthe first time in four years. Next term, Vincent plans touse the Lincoln Grand Prixcycle race as a platform toencourage more cycling.

LeicesterKestrels’ Field Primary schoolheld an unusual assembly,involving its Bike It crewrunning a ‘locking’ assembly.The group acted out threeshort scenarios for the wholeschool, to show how to locka bike securely. The summerterm will see Rowan workingwith the new Go Ride Coachto set up links with Speedwayand Leicester Road Club, andestablishing a Cycling Club atAbbey Primary school.

East Midlands

West MidlandsCoventryAndy continues where George left off. The focus is onhis new schools, though Andy will continue to workwith George’s established Bike It schools. Andy nowhas 12 schools in the scheme, seven of which tookpart in the Virtual Bike Race – the first time they’dengaged in a National Bike It Event. The schools didtremendously well, producing almost 2,600 cycle tripsduring the competition and even managing to getfeatured in a double page spread in the localCoventry newspaper!

Playground skills

BirminghamThe bike shop Cycle Chain hasbeen instrumental in offering DrBike servicing for Bike It schools.The Bike It officer carries out thesafety checks and, where a repairis not possible, the parents havethe option to pay just £10 for theshop to come and carry out therepairs.

Cycle Chain have also helped torun a very successful parents fayre,where second-hand bikes weresold at reduced rate. This event atSt Gerard’s school was sosuccessful that all bikes were soldwithin the first half hour.

Cycle Chain have also establishedmaintenance contracts with threeBike It schools, and have provideda pool of at least ten bikes to eachschool to help overcome the factthat some children don’t own

bikes. Perry Beeches Junior schoolhad an extremely successful Cycleto School (C2S) day which wasattended by the Big Lottery Fund,attracting 115 bikes. To cope withincreasing demand the school hasinstalled additional ‘toast racks’ toaccommodate 28 cycles, whichmeans that the school can nowprovide cycle storage for up to 40bikes.

The end of the term saw all existingand potential new schools comingtogether at a very successfulBirmingham school championaction day. 92% of delegates saidthat the programme of events onthe day was excellent. We are nowrecruiting for Bike It posts in Stokeon Trent (two posts) andShrewsbury.

Round the World ‘Bling Your Bike’pupils at Ling Moor Primary, Lincoln

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Regional Round-up

SheffieldSpring term saw Ruth run seven Bike toSchool days as the launch events in herschools. Each had Bike Breakfasts andDr Bike sessions. Some events hadPolice Community Support Officersgetting involved. All of the events weresuccessful, rewarding and very positive.A highlight for the term was the Bike toSchool day at Totley Primary school,with almost 50% of the school cyclingin. The breakfast included deliciouscroissants, baked fresh in the schooloven that morning, and an array of freshfruits. This produce was kindly providedby the local deli and greengrocer, bothof whom have children at the school.The Bike It crew were really great, too,pumping up tyres relentlessly. What withall these efforts, the number of bikes just

keeps increasing from school to school!

The second Bike It officer for SheffieldHenry Norman has also taken up postand we welcome him to the team.

DoncasterJim has found that Bawtry MayflowerPrimary has really taken to Bike It. Thestaff and pupils are committed andimaginative. After the Simple Solutionsto Planet Pollutions sessions that Jimran with Year 5, a group of the pupilsdecided to write a school play aboutreducing environmental impact andpresented it to the whole school duringan assembly. The cycle shelter is now inplace and is packed with bikes everyday. The school is committed to getting children Bikeability trained. Jim is

looking to provide funding to trial Level 1Bikeability training for Year 3.

YorkThe City has been awarded CyclingDemonstration status and Jim will bemoving to York. We are thereforeadvertising to fill his current post inDoncaster.

Yorkshire and Humberside

Huyton, Knowsley and St Helens Ian took 15 pupils from St Cuthbert’sHigh school Year 7 to the ManchesterVelodrome for three sessions on thetrack. The sessions were fantastic withthe boys gaining so much and learningnew skills. By the end of the third sessionthe progression of each rider was clearand the benefits to the boys’ self esteemwas immense.

The community ride at Eaves Primarycontinues to grow and has become afavourite among the children, parents andteachers. 50 riders attended February’sride including pupils, siblings, parents andthe police. Ian continues to work withsome of the younger children and isthrilled to see a great improvement in theircycling skills.

Liverpool and The Wirral Simon continues his Lazy Bone Zonecampaign – highlighting the parking onyellow zig-zags which affects many of hisschools.

Brookdale Primary (Wirral) cycle storage isnow in place for 30 bikes and is full tooverflowing daily.

Simon feels that his favourite moments

this term were in teaching a teacher tocycle and seeing the transformation in aschool caretaker who, since gettinginvolved with Bike It, has become a reallyhappy and animated ‘Ditch the Stabilizer’assistant. He’s now a firm favourite withthe younger children who make sure tohigh five him whenever they pass!

Bury Pupils, parents and staff at HazlehurstPrimary school enjoyed a Bike to SchoolBreakfast where almost 20% of pupils onthe school roll cycled to school for thisone-day event. This wasn’t just a one offthough, as pupils really started to get thecycling bug during the school’s Bike toSchool Week a couple of weeks later.Every day of the week saw between10–20% of pupils at the school cycling.

Stockport and RochdaleThe opening of the BMX track atBrookside Primary school was a keyevent for Nes. Some parents of childrenat the school had been campaigning forover a year to get a BMX track in the parknear to the school and when their effortscame to fruition they asked Nes to getinvolved with the opening event. For the opening event there was a BMXshow from Inertia. We made it a Bright

Bike to School day so that everyone,teachers and children alike, all dressed intheir brightest most clashing clothes to beseen and safe. The opening of the BMXtrack was with a local councillor and manypress photographers. A highlight was thedemonstration from British Trialschampion Aran Cook, complete with askills session for some children on theBMX track with him. It was also the prizegiving for the winner of the postcardcompetition Emma Shiels, who waspresented with a brand new bike.

LancasterKathy was very busy both with herschools and with helping out with thenational competitions. Kathy has nowgone on maternity leave, and wewelcome Damian Bonsall who providesmaternity cover.

North West

Red Nose Day bike shed openingat Bawtry Mayflower Primary

A gob-smackedEmmaShiels ispresentedwith herbrandnew bike

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Regional Round-upNorth East

East of EnglandHarlow and CheshuntBart has been settling into his new post,identifying and working with schools in thearea. Bikeability is now offered to allprimary schools in the Harlow area, andhe is now able to offer Bikeability trainingcourses to all the Bike It schools inCheshunt, too. Bart has negotiateddiscounts with cycle shops in Cheshunt,and visited the cycle shops in Harlow.Bart has met with the Harlow CTC groupand has also met with the Sportsdevelopment officers for Harlow andCheshunt.

Thames GatewayThis was originally one post co-funded bythe Big Lottery Fund and the localauthorities covering Basildon, Thurrockand Southend. Southend recentlyachieved Cycling Demonstration townstatus and wished to fund a Bike It postsolely for their area. At the same time theSouth West Essex Primary Care Trustoffered further funding to assist inpromoting Bike It in Basildon and

Thurrock. We discussed the situation withour representative from the Big LotteryFund who agreed their funding could bere-focussed on Basildon and Thurrock.The result is that we now have sufficientfunding to create separate posts inBasildon and Thurrock, turning the originalpost into three posts.

Graham Pearl has taken the role of Bike Itofficer for Southend, and the Thurrockpost has been filled by Katie van Dop andwe welcome her to the team.

Luton, Bedford, St AlbansThis term Richard wasrecognised by British Cycling forhis Go-Ride work in schools,and he has linked riders fromLuton schools to the localcycling club with help from theCounty Sports Partnership.

He also obtained agreement foradditional or new cycle storagefacilities at six of his schools.

Staff at Sundon Park Junior school arereporting that their children have gone‘bike mad’ since Bike It started inSeptember when nobody cycled toschool.

Gt YarmouthKevin has been selecting his schools, andmeeting with the county’s Road Safetyteam to discuss Bikeability training andthe impact in the area.

We are now recruiting for Cambridge andColchester.

GatesheadRoman Road Primary’s enthusiasmresulted in between 18–23% of the schoolcycling almost every day. The schoolcame second in the national Virtual BikeRace, achieving over 1,600 journeys inthe four weeks of the race. In March,continuing the success in nationalcompetitions, Cameron Straughan, whowon winter’s national design a flag foryour bike competition, was presentedwith a brand new Islabike in front of hisproud parents.

South Tyneside’s stabiliser free sessions atAshley Primary school were popular andsuccessful. Alan was interviewed bySouth Tyneside Central TV at the schoolto show what great projects hadhappened or were underway in SouthTyneside and Gateshead.

DarlingtonClaire took a local councillor on a cycleride around the ward, after the councillorlaunched a poster competition in local

schools to address poor parking habitsand problems for residents. The councillorhas now asked Darlington BoroughCouncil if she can borrow one of their loanbikes to see if she really can swap someof her journeys for cycling ones and hasasked for some ‘cycling top tips’ toinclude in her next newsletter.

TeessideThanks to additional funding fromStockton-on-Tees Primary Care Trust, aGet Cycling Roadshow visited the six BikeIt schools in Stockton. Pupils at theschools had the opportunity to try out awhole range of pedal-powered machines,even a seven-seater-circle-cycle!

Many pupils got into the spirit of the dayby cycling to school in the morning, andbike sheds were brimming over. BarleyFields Primary school in Ingleby Barwicksaw a record 267 bikes in their shed –that’s around 64% of pupils riding toschool on one single day!

Debbie moves from Teesside to take overfrom Claire, and we welcome PamelaJenkins as the new Bike It officer for theTeesside.

Wheatfields Bike It Breakfast on acold and foggy January morning

Stockton pupils try out aseven-seater-circle-cycle

Regional Round-up

Bike It continues to grow in London. It started in 2006with two officers, Andy and Marina, working in 20schools. Their achievements led to a team of six officers,plus one Bike It supervisor working in 48 schools across13 London boroughs.

We continue to receive funding from Transport for Londonand the Big Lottery Fund to run the programme. Inaddition to this, we are very pleased to have Bike Itofficers - James and Georgie - funded by two of London’sPrimary Care Trusts (Tower Hamlets and Westminster).This reflects the important health benefit of helping morechildren use their bikes regularly, and hopefully gettingthem into a cycling habit that will keep them healthy forlife.

Holly Bruford, who joined Sustrans as a Bike It officer inlate 2007, is now in charge of overseeing and developingthe programme in London and the East of England. Hollyis working to diversify Bike It across London by openingup the 2009/2010 application process to Londonboroughs who have not yet participated in theprogramme, with a focus on communities and areaswhere cycling currently has a low profile.

Our newest Bike It officers, Felix and Ali, started this term.Felix has worked as a freelance cycling instructor acrossLondon for the past three years, and is in schoolsdelivering practical, hands-on support to increase cyclinglevels. Ali is taking a new direction for Bike It in London, inlooking to work predominantly with Black and MinorityEthnic communities located in outer London boroughs asfrom September. Ali, who speaks Hindi and Urdu, alreadyhas experience working in these areas as a fullyaccredited cycling instructor.

After delivering a talk about the Bike It project to parentsat Cubitt Town Primary School it became clear that themajority of parents had never learnt to ride a bike, andthat many of those that had, had long since forgotten.They were excited to learn about the project and werehappy for their children to ride to school and to take partin bike-related activities and events. The parents asked ifthey too could be included in the Bike It programme. Theywanted to learn to ride or refine their skills, the basics ofbike maintenance and to be taken on a bike ride in theirlocal area. Tower Hamlets have generously funded theproject aimed at parents called Bike It U Can 2.

London

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Maintenance skills sessionArnhem Wharf Primary school

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Regional Round-up

Port Talbot/NeathLike everyone, Louise had trouble with the snow. A week’sworth of activities had to be cancelled due to the weatherconditions. Although very pretty, the snow caused some seriouslast-minute planning and rearranging of activities. A favouritenon-snow moment came courtesy of Pontrhydyfen Primaryschool. Set in the Afan valley in a small village with a fantasticcommunity, the Bike Breakfast was held on a sunny day. Overhalf the children at school attend with lots of parents involved.The school was so pleased they booked another breakfast forthe summer term there and then.

Louise has also been heavily involved in delivering cycle-relatedlessons at her schools, as well as practical puncture repairsessions.

Blaenbaglan Primary school arranged that their Bike It crew hada weekly slot in the all-school assembly throughout the entireterm, to promote cycling.

ConwyMike Murphy felt that this term working in the Conwy area, wehave been fully supported by the Road Safety Team. Responsefrom the schools has been favourable, and very positive linkshave been made which promise to lead to successful futurerelationships. Mike is also enjoying great support from the localpolice. They are keen to promote safety and bike security, to thepoint where they have donated bike locks and helped withsecurity coding sessions.

Ysgol Maes Owen-Towyn school had a special event, in thatthey won the design a banner event for all Bike It schools inNorth Wales. Year 4 pupil Georgia Lunt created the winningdesign, which was printed on a banner for all 12 Bike It schoolsin the Conwy area. There was an assembly and presentation ofthe prize to the school and to Georgia, from the DeputyEducation Minister Paul Davies and the local Welsh AssemblyMember Darren Millar. The press also attended as well as thecounty’s Road Safety Team. All the hard work of organising thecompetition paid off, and Mike’s reward was the teachers’satisfaction and the looks on the children’s faces.

Mike has now left the project to rejoin the Probation Service. Wewish Mike well in his new role and look forward to welcoming hisreplacement Gwen Thomas.

Wales

About SustransBike 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 theenvironment. 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 call0845 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 generatefunds 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.

A ‘Love yourBike’ sessionat RhydyfroPrimary school