Bike It in Lancaster
Bike It officers Annie and Kathy are now sharing the post in Lancaster.
Annie Cousins - Bike It officer
Contact Annie: Sustrans Bike It officer, c/o Engineering, Town Hall, Marine Road, Morecambe LA4 5AF
Tel: 01524 582654, mob: 07917 133256, email: annie.cousins@sustrans.org.uk
Annie joined Sustrans In March 2010
"The best things about being a Bike It officer have to be seeing the fun that children have during Bike It events and activities, and seeing the results of the project in the large number of bikes parked outside Bike It schools. Cycling has so many obvious benefits, and promoting cycling to children - who invariably love to ride bikes - has to be the best job in the world!"
Before Sustrans, Annie completed a PGCE and worked with the Northmoor Trust in Oxfordshire, delivering waste and sustainability projects in schools. At the moment, Annie is working alongside Kathy in order to get to know her Bike It schools. She's running Bike It celebration days with St Luke's School in Skerton, who are taking on Bike It with gusto!
Kathy Bashford - Bike It officer
Contact Kathy: Sustrans Bike It officer, c/o Engineering, Town Hall, Marine Road, Morecambe LA4 5AF
Tel: 01524 582654, mob: 07876 234112 or email: kathy.bashford@sustrans.org.uk
Kathy joined Sustrans in May 2006
Kathy has been organising cycle to school events to catch up with the schools; these usually include bike breakfasts, Dr Bike and cycle skills. This term, she's also doing bike rides with Bikeability pupils, family bike rides, Learn to Cycle sessions, maintenance classes, summer fairs, a high school bike club and Wheely Wednesdays! Over summer term she'll also be focusing on helping Y Sevens with their safe routes to school by cycling it with them.
Annie's and Kathy's schools for 2011/12:
- Archbishop Hutton Primary School
- Bolton-le-Sands CE Primary School
- Bowerham Community Primary School
- Carnforth High School
- Cathedral Catholic Primary School
- Caton St Paul's C of E Primary School
- Dallas Road Community Primary School
- Great Wood Primary
- Grosvenor Park Primary School
- Heysham High School Sports College
- Lancaster Ryelands Primary School
- Morecambe and Heysham Torrisholme Community Primary School
- Morecambe and Heysham Westgate Primary School
- Morecambe Road School
- Moorside Primary School
- Mossgate Primary School
- Poulton-le-Sands Primary School
- Ryelands Primary School
- Silverdale St John's CEVA Primary School
- Skerton Community High School
- Skerton St Luke's CEVA Primary School
- Slyne-with-Hest St Luke's CE Primary School
- St Mary's Catholic Primary School
- St Wilfrid's CE Primary School
- The Cathedral Catholic Primary School
- The Loyne Specialist School
- Torrisholme Primary
- Willow Lane Primary School
What are Annie and Kathy up to now?
Annie and Kathy have enjoyed a busy Autumn term with Lancaster & Morecambe schools.
4 new schools have been chosen to take part in Sustrans Bike It - Carnforth North Road Primary, Caton St Paul’s C of E Primary, the Loyne Specialist School and Archbishop Hutton Primary in Warton. North Road and St Paul’s saw a dramatic boost in cycling numbers, with around half of the pupils attending biker’s breakfasts, Dr Bike and cycle skills sessions. More children are now cycling regularly in both schools. Archbishop Hutton Primary are launching the project in January. Children from the Loyne Specialist School have improved their cycling confidence and balance, with some now riding their bikes unaided.
As Carnforth High continues it’s sucessful cyclists’ breakfast card scheme, an enthusiastic bunch of year 7 and 8 boys enjoyed a lunchtime bike ride to the Crag Bank shore line.
Families from Silverdale and Bowerham Primary Schools also enjoyed bike rides to Jenny Browns Point and along the canal towpath.
Other activities in schools included bike to school days, cycle skills, learn to cycle sessions, Bike It breakfasts, an after school club, bike maintenance classes and bike repairs carried out by Dr Bike (aka Colin Stone).
The new School Champions cluster group met and shared ideas and plans for their cycling activities. This new group serves as a regular opportunity for teachers from Sustrans Bike It schools to meet and sustain the project in school. The group asked for a competition between local schools to encourage cycling in the Winter, which will begin in January as a ‘Winter Wheely Wednesdays’ competition. Champions and other school staff will do training in ‘Delivering Cycle skills sessions’ and Bike maintenance’ in February.
They rounded off the term by running assemblies with Cycling Santa, a popular visitor who presented prizes to the most committed cyclists in 4 schools.