Bike It in Colchester
Aba Pifferi - Bike It officer
Read Aba's latest news (pdf).
Contact Aba: Sustrans Bike It officer, Essex County Council, East Area Highways Office, Essex County Council, 910 The Crescent, Colchester, Essex CO4 9QQ.
Tel: 07584087182 (mobile) or email: aba.pifferi@sustrans.org.uk
Aba joined Sustrans in August 2009
"I gave up my car 13 years ago and have been cycling and walking everywhere ever since, and what a difference it has made to my life. I'm much fitter in mind and body and am generally a much happier human being. In my hometown in northern Italy, we are encouraged to use bikes. The journeys are made a real pleasure by miles and miles of cycle paths. I started cycling when I was six and used to ride to school every day with my friends. I still have my first bike! I've cycled on holiday in Denmark, Hungary, Cuba, Thailand and Bangladesh and while working overseas in Italy, France, Nepal and the Maldives. I've experienced fantastic cycle paths and roads full of potholes and mud, during dry season and monsoon, through villages in the back of beyond and in the middle of crazy urban traffic - loving every minute of it each time. I now intend to cycle the streets of Colchester and encourage more and more school children and staff to join me in this fantastic way of getting about."
Before joining Bike It, Aba worked as a primary and secondary teacher trainer in South East Asia, taught foreign languages to children and adults in Essex and helped to formalise the twinning of her home town with Colchester. She loves cooking and is an avid reader.
Aba's schools for 2011/12:
- Brinkley Grove Primary School
- Friars Grove Primary School
- Gosbecks Primary School
- Highwoods Community Primary School
- Home Farm Primary School
- Lexden Primary School
- Monkwick Junior School
- Prettygate Junior School
- St Andrew's Junior School
- St George's New Town Junior School
- St James' CEVA Primary School
- St John's CEVC Primary School
- St Lawrence CE Primary School, Rowhedge
- St Michael's Primary and Nursery
- Stanway Fiveways Primary School
- The Gilberd School
What's Aba up to?
Another exciting term has flown us by. And as always, so much has happened.
A trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer in September saw Aba and her bike Boris take part in the Bike Friendly Cities project.
Also in September the Eco Race was launched and many schools joined in, encouraging more and more students to choose sustainable forms of transport for their journey to school. In July Essex County Council will be looking at the Eco race data and allocate Bronze, Silver and Gold Sustainable Transport awards. Plus one school will win the main prize: a Cycle Mania day held in the school playground!!
The Eco race is not open only to Colchester schools but also to those in Harlow, Chelmsford and Basildon, in cooperation with other Bike It officers in the county.
Would your school like to join the Eco Race? Contact Aba on the number/email above.