Cycling organisation in Ashington awarded cash to run additional group cycles and training sessions

Cycling 4 Everyone was awarded £8,880 of National Lottery funds by Sport England to run community days, where they will support people to learn to cycle safely on the roads and lead group cycles around the town.

Director of Cycling 4 Everyone, Jan Chisholm, said: “I think we are on this journey where our work is increasing, the interest is increasing, there is more funding available.

“We want to be the ones that support people using that funding.

“I think it is great, personally, to see many more adults returning to cycling.”

The organisation uses the government-supported Bikeability model of teaching, that aims to teach people to safely cycle on the roads.

Jan said: “People think that they cannot do it because the roads are too busy, but it is going to be an awfully long time before there are cycle paths everywhere.

“And I think the Bikeability model that we actually use goes a long way to supporting cycling on the road, giving people a layer of confidence.

“I would not say anybody can cycle, but we are happy to support anybody that wants to.”

These training events in Ashington integrate with the other work the organisation does to get people into cycling, such as collecting donated bicycles and refurbishing them as low-cost bikes for new cyclists.

Jan said: “Part of what we try and do as Cycling 4 Everyone, is to support people to actually do it.

“People have the idea that they want to ride a bike, they want to do it, but they are not necessarily equipped to deal with it.

“It might be 30 years since they've ridden a bike. There are a number of things that we could support with.”

Once a week the group runs a community workshop, where people can bring along bikes and have them repaired.

Cycling 4 Everyone is hoping it can teach people how to repair their own bikes in future, but this is contingent on further funding.

Jan said: “We put a workshop in there because there is not a bike shop in Ashington.

“People desperately need help with maintaining bikes at low cost or to be able to purchase them at low cost.”

The group has ambitions to work with schools and businesses to encourage cycling as a way to improve wellbeing and reduce carbon emissions.

It was recently able to source a cargo bike with a separate grant, which they now rent out to local businesses looking to do deliveries.

The social enterprise also believes cycling has a big future for Northumberland’s commuters, with plans to link active travel infrastructure to the Northumberland Line rail project.

Jan said: “The government's message of ‘get everybody on a bike’ or the council's message of ‘get everybody a bike’ is all very well and good, but that is not going to happen unless you support people to do it.

“Quite often supporting people in a group situation, like a workplace, brings more than just teaching them to cycle. It boosts morale and camaraderie.”