Cycling Projects at Pendlebury, Manchester, have been helping to set up over twenty schemes to provide special cycles, and trained support for people with disability to ride them, for over ten years. I am a parent of a young man with cerebral palsy, who lives in east Norfolk, and for seventeen years he has been developing cycling skills which have improved, as he has been able to use a range of cycles for leisure, and competition over that time. The rewards for him have been increased independence, inclusion with other cyclists, better health, -and medals for competition, and achievement.
When the opportunity arose for me recently to attend a conference to develop a scheme to train volunteers to a nationally accredited standard, as instructors for cyclists with disability, organised by Cycling Projects, I realised that there was potential for a number of Wheels for All locations in Norfolk.
Although Breckland Special Olympics Cycling Group, with whom my son does most of his cycling, has needs of a track to practice on, more trained volunteers, and a facility near Norwich to store cycles, the advice from our working group has directed me to Lynnsport, in King's Lynn as the likely location for Norfolk's first scheme.
Since April, Cycling Projects have given a presentation to the working group at Lynnsport, and acknowledged that the centre offers the opportunity to become a centre of excellence.
Cycling Touring Club are offering us the chance to run a pilot scheme to train volunteers to a standard which can be nationally accredited, and if there is a track somewhere nearby we can use, or a place to develop one, for serious competition, British Cycling can help us plan and organise a schedule of competitive events, alongside Special Olympics. (The track at Lynnsport cannot sustain competitive cycling).
The Primary Care Trust does support remedial activity, and I hope that we will soon acquire sufficient cycles to be able to offer support and leadership for groups who want to cycle, for therapeutic and recreational purposes. Based at Lynnsport, the use of the site, and National Cycle Route One, provide the opportunity for group outings to be managed with trained support, and for equipment to be stored, maintained, and prepared efficiently. Cycling Projects specialise in training volunteers, as well as family members and carers, to support remedial cycling, and also to check, refurbish, and maintain cycles.
To fund the project we have, however, to carry out a survey of interest, and need. So very shortly we will be printing a brief questionnaire to circulate in King's Lynn and West Norfolk, backed with publicity to identify the project with the questionnaire. In September, a Taster Session for all our anticipated contacts, their families, carers, and potential volunteer instructors will take place at Lynnsport, and this time next year, the circulation of your newsletter may have doubled!