CTC Cycle Champions
Reading
Helen Biggerstaff is the CTC Community Cycling Development Officer working within Reading Borough Council, in partnership with CTC Charitable Trust and Reading Borough Council (Sports Reading, Transport and Travel).
Helen is working with Sport Reading in developing 35 projects over a 4 year period. The aim is to deliver a programme of activities to increase levels of cycling for recreation, everyday local trips and travel to and from work, targeting those with a health risk from overly sedentary lifestyles.
CTC and Sport Reading’s Everybody Active scheme, funded by the Learning Disability Partnership Board, has enabled the purchase of a fleet of adapted bicycles for community use. Helen has been training adults as part of the weekly Disability Cycle Group, with between 30-35 regular service users attending and some very positive feedback from the community. The sessions run from 10:00 to 11:30 every Wednesday.
Helen has also been working in partnership with Alafia, a local charity that offers support to black and minority ethnic women who are caring for children and young people with disabilities. These women meet every week for a vital support network and enjoy trying out different activities as part of the Alafia Cycle Club, launched on the 17th July.
A regular 'drop in' cycling for health session is also now up and running, which complements the health referral scheme currently running at Reading Pathway. The participants can use the sports stadium and the cycle path around the park to try out CTC/Sport Reading's adapted and mainstream bikes. The sessions are led by a fully-qualified health instructor on Fridays from 10:30 - 12:00 at Palmer Park Stadium. They cost just £2.
Popularity of these projects is growing: participants are joining in from all areas of the community, for very different reasons – cycling to lose weight, fitness, depression or general health issues.
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Everybody Active
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Alafia
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Cycling for Health
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External link: CTC website
External link: CTC Cycle Champions project pages
