Speeches, ribbon cutting and FREE eBike trials
Residents in Rigside and Douglas Water are being invited to an active travel launch featuring FREE eBike trials, on Tuesday 26 April.
The launch, starting at 1pm outside the shop, will include speeches and ribbon cutting as well as a mini tour of the new street furniture that has been installed as part of the Make Your Way 2021/22 programme in Rigside. It will start outside the shop at the new bike rack and solar power bin – a first for rural Clydesdale – before moving to one of the five new benches that have been installed and Community Hall mapboard which provides an overview of existing walking and cycling routes, local facilities and links to public transport information.
Healthy Valleys will be running free eBike trials from 12:30 – 3pm outside the Primary School as part of the launch, which residents are encouraged to join in with.
No booking is required for the launch or eBike trials. Participants can just turn up but are encouraged to practice social distancing, good hand and respiratory hygiene and should not attend if they are displaying symptoms of, or have, COVID.
The launch takes place as part of a full day cycling programme in Rigside Primary School on Tuesday 26, including bike safety checks and demos and Police Scotland security marking and Road Safety talks. It follows a 4 week Scottish Cycling Rock Up and Ride programme at Chatelherault Country Park for P5-7s and a Bikeability level 1 programme for P4s earlier in the academic year.
25 new and reconditioned bikes as well as cycling equipment has been sourced for Rigside Primary School pupils as part of the Scottish Cycling Rock Up and Ride and Make Your Way programmes (the latter in partnership with the North Lanarkshire Council Restorative Justice team), including two bikes for use by teachers to help in the deliverability of Bikeability in future years.
Active Schools - South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture Trust and Healthy Valleys have set up an after school cycling club starting this month to help keep up momentum built through the programmes.
Ali Mechan, Headteacher at Rigside Primary School says, “the uptick in cycling over the last year by pupils in Rigside Primary School has been fantastic, from providing bikes and equipment for pupils to Bikeability, the Rock Up and Ride Scottish Cycling sessions, Community Cycling Day, the Police Scotland security marking and bike maintenance sessions. Hopefully the pupils will be reaping the benefits of the initiative for years to come and with a better understanding of the health and wellbeing and environmental benefits of cycling.”
Make Your Way is supported by Paths for All’s Smarter Choices Smarter Places, Strathclyde Passenger Transport and South Lanarkshire Council’s Renewable Energy Fund. It is managed by Rural Development Trust’s Community Action Lanarkshire programme. It is part of a year on year programme, running since 2016, which targets sustainable travel in rural Lanarkshire and has included community mapping and the development of Sustainable Travel Action Plans and Feasibility Studies to date.
The programme ran in Crawford and Elvanfoot and Glespin this year as well as Rigside and Douglas Water, with Crawford and Elvanfoot voting to progress a Speed Reduction and Pedestrian Safety Feasibility Study, and Glespin voting to progress a Glespin - Douglas Active Travel Pathway Feasibility Study.
For more information on the launch, contact