Cycling enables mum to travel with her children

Partner: CTC

Scheme: Community Cycling Champions

Location: Sheffield

Caroline Waugh used to rely on her electric scooter for transport. After completing a 12-week ‘Cycle for Health’ course on a tricycle, she has now cancelled her mobility scooter rental and cycles her kids to school most days.

Caroline has a disability caused by brain damage which she sustained in a road traffic accident when she was 21 and has since used her scooter to get around, or relied on lifts from friends and relatives in a car. She wanted to lose weight by incorporating an activity into her everyday life that didn’t depend on others’ help. Caroline explains:

 “I try to go swimming twice a week, but my lift there is often cancelled. I’d like to walk the kids the mile to school for exercise, but there are too many kerbs to go up and down – I’d end up in casualty! So I go on my mobility scooter, even though I am under the age of 60 and my hair isn’t blue. i’m cycling now and I’ll keep doing it. I’m happier than I’ve been in ages.”

After reading up on the subject and making enquiries about getting hold of a trike, Caroline received an email from Independent Living Sheffield, a group that works with Steve Marsden. Steve is a project officer for CTC’s Community Cycle Champions in Sheffield that runs Cycle for Health, a 12-week programme that introduces cycling to people who have had health issues or want to get healthier and more confident on a bike.

Steve invited Caroline to Endcliffe Park the next day, and said he would take a trike there for her to try:

 “I didn't sleep a wink all night, I was so excited!” 

She arrived, tried the trike and cycled round the park with the group. “I could do it!” she beamed.

Now having completed the course, there is no stopping her. She cycles the school run with her children at least once a day, does the shopping and cycles to the bus stop. She feels self-sufficient and isn’t reliant on her scooter anymore. Caroline says: “I’m cycling now and I’ll keep doing it. I’m happier than I’ve been in ages.”

Result: Access to a trike has given Caroline and others who need adapted bikes a new lease of life, access to regular activity and a new found independence.