New officer appointed to encourage children to cycle in Cornwall
Issued on: Friday 3 September, 2010
Sam Pickard has relocated from Sustrans' - the UK charity that enables people to make more of their everyday journeys on foot, bike and public transport - Bristol office, back to her home county of Cornwall to encourage pupils cycle to school, to reverse children's decreasing levels of physical activity.
Over the next few years, Cornwall's new Sustrans Bike It officer, Sam, will manage a number of initiatives, events and activities at schools across the area, to boost levels of cycling. She will show children how to maintain their bikes to ensure they are safe to ride, whilst delivering classroom curriculum activities related to cycling and health. Sam will also organise cycling related challenges, competitions and activities, including bike rides, to encourage the children on to their bikes whilst having fun. The project will begin by focusing on schools in Truro, Camborne, Pool, Redruth and Penzance.
In the first year, Sam will work intensively with 13 schools to encourage teachers, children and their parents to cycle to school. She will continue to support these schools in the second and third years, whilst also taking on new schools to work with.
Sam worked as a Sustrans Bike It officer in Bristol for two years before moving back to her home town of Falmouth, she comments, "I love my job as a Sustrans Bike It officer because it's so hands on. I get to speak with, and teach, children, teachers and parents about the benefits of cycling. I'm delighted to be back in Cornwall where I spent my childhood, working to help reduce car use and encourage people - young and old - to feel really positive about travelling in ways that are good for them and good for the environment."
In her spare time, Sam enjoys learning to play the saxophone, swimming in the sea and going on cycling adventures. Sustrans works in partnership with, and receives funding from, Cornwall Council to deliver the project.
School's that Sam will be working with in the first year are:
Bosvigo School
Heamoor Community Primary School
Illogan School
Pool Business and Enterprise College
Pensans Community Primary School
Roskear Primary and Nursery School
St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Penzance
St Meriadoc Junior School
Threemilestone School
Tregolls Primary School
Treloweth Community Primary School
Trevithick Primary School
Treyew Primary School
Further information about Sustrans and Bike It, including other news releases, is available through our website: www.sustrans.org.uk
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For further information please contact:
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NOTES
Sustrans is the charity that's enabling people to travel by foot, bike or public transport for more of the journeys we make every day. It's time we all began making smarter travel choices. Make your move and support Sustrans today. www.sustrans.org.uk
This year Sustrans ismarking the fifteenth anniversary of the National Cycle Network.On11 September 1995, an award from theMillennium Commissionenabled Sustrans to embark on thefirst 2,500 miles ofa 6,500 mile National Cycle Network. TheNetwork now extends to just over 12,000 miles and carries one million walking and cycling journeys every day.
Bike It is a nationwide scheme, managed by sustainable transport charity Sustrans, aiming to increase the number of young people cycling to school and on other journeys.
Over the 2007/08 academic year there was a doubling of cycling levels in schools taking part in the Bike It programme.
There are currently 57 Bike It Officers in post across England and Wales, working with over 443 schools in 55 local authorities
The project receives funding from Cycling England with the support of the Department for Transport, Bike Hub - the cycle industry levy, the Big Lottery Fund's Well-being Programme, the National Assembly for Wales, Transport for London and support from partner local authorities.
Cycling England is the expert body set up by Government to promote cycling nationally. Further information about Cycling England can be found at www.cyclingengland.co.uk.
Sustrans is calling on UK governments to invest in doubling the number of journeys under five miles made by foot, bike and public transport to four out of five by 2020. For more information and to download a copy of the call to action visit http://www.sustrans.org.uk/about-sustrans/call-to-action-for-2020