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 Post subject: Cycle to school scheme.
PostPosted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 19:16 
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A school bike club in Newham, a community celebration of cycling in Tower Hamlets, a simple and sensible bike track in Southwark and a radio bike show took top honours in this year’s London Cycling Awards.



Liz Bowgett's story is inspirational:

http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=609

The Winners:

Best Cycling Initiative for Young People or Children : Liz Bowgett and the New City Primary School in Newham.


Liz Bowgett, a teacher at New City Primary School in Plaistow, initiated cycle training, a well attended after school club and access to bikes for children of all abilities at her school.

This means that children now drag their parents out on cycle rides, as well as cycling to school with them. For those who live in homes where there is no room to store a cycle, the school provides secure cycle storage, installed with a grant from Transport for London, which is used both after school and at weekends.

Newham is desperately under -priveleged, with commensurate obesity rates and lack of exercise among children. Cycling improves your heart's strength, efficiency, and even its working life the more you work it. It can protect against heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and stress too.

Local police helped with the children cycling to school, and the officer in charge was also presented with an award:
http://cms.met.police.uk/met/boroughs/n ... ith_pupils

Liz Bowgett, who works at New City Primary School said of PC Delivett "Paul has been very enthusiastic in planning the rides and taking many children out on the roads to parks in Newham. Both the parents and children love having the police team with us on the cycle rides."


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:33 
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I think I report a while back on plan to have a cycle lane to every school.

It had one drawback in that it might not be so easy to engineer...und as we all know .. them cycle lanes ain't that good :roll:

There also a school somewhere in Manchester which came up with the idea of a prize of a bicycle for child und parent if they ride to school so many times per term. (I not sure if that work or not.. we never got a follow up from this story from the Manchester Evening News... :? :? :?

Cousin Jess in charge of a school in Merseyside. She has always had cycling proficiency und now Bikeability for ALL pupils .. along with cycle club/kart club/buildy your own go-kart club :lol: as part of the extre-curicular which she also open out to the parents.

She appear to have growing number of pupils cycling to school und so far none arrive "in cold sweat" - but in healthy rosy cheeked perspiration :lol: und she opened up the school PE changingrooms so that they can freshen up und change as needs require. :bow: to her.


But all these initiatives are step in right direction to get the ethic of healthy exercise und using sassy bike instead of sassy car as und when appropriate.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 13:36 
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We are in a rural area - the ones with the highest numbers of fatalities according to some statistics.
The roads to my son's school are so narrow and twisted, as well as busy at school times, (i'ts just off the main A591, the ONLY route to Ambleside from Windermere) that nobody has even brought up the idea of cycling to school - except for some well paid county officer whose job it was to implement and fund some projects - and the general consensus was he must be either daft or mad, but definitely dangerous!
A few children do cycle, and traffic generally allows them a wide berth, and is courteous - but a few vans cars and lorries from outside the area, are often taken by surprise when they round a bend and find an oncoming vehicle passing a cyclist, or even a cyclist on their side with no room to pass, and in one or two instances fail to react quickly enough.
Public transport is both expensive, AND a place of frequent bad behaviour and bullying - so most parents do as we do, and drive their children to school on their way to work. I take two at present, and the other parents bring them home - but not all parents have neighbours where this is convenient or possible.
A safe route to school here would cost millions - even SUSTRANS with their funding have failed to make a safe link between Windermere and Ambleside, instead implementing a couple of suicidal features, such as the cycle lanes at Waterhead - universally derided even in the national press!
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 23:32 
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Steve.. agree 100% with the endeavours behind this post.


Yes we do need such teachers and I do try to get folk to ride a bike. It's fun.. and you do feel good afterwards.

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 05:36 
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It's just a shame that the policies are so patchy around the country.

The OP's example is typical of a local effort cobbled together by people who care, rather than a national effort funded and led by the government.

Here in Cumbria we have some of the best scenery and fresh air, but no clear policy of implementing training.

Some is even being run by our local vicar - the police numbers are being reduced to the extent that on a Sunday night in winter, a huge area is covered by just one or two officers! It doesn't leave much time for cycle training etc. :oops:

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:16 
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In Gear wrote:
Steve.. agree 100% with the endeavours behind this post.


Yes we do need such teachers and I do try to get folk to ride a bike. It's fun.. and you do feel good afterwards.


Perhaps it would be a good idea if they lead by example. How many teachers ride to school? At our kids school there is not one to my knowledge. But the do have cycling lane that consist of a white line painted down the middle of a 5 foot wide pavement.

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:26 
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Quote:
Perhaps it would be a good idea if they lead by example. How many teachers ride to school? At our kids school there is not one to my knowledge


It is my understanding that teachers tend to carry quite a lot of stuff with them when they go to and from work. this is probabally why they are reluctant to cycle.

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Dusty wrote:
Quote:
Perhaps it would be a good idea if they lead by example. How many teachers ride to school? At our kids school there is not one to my knowledge


It is my understanding that teachers tend to carry quite a lot of stuff with them when they go to and from work. this is probabally why they are reluctant to cycle.


perhaps the parents could lead by example too.... :roll:


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:50 
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Quote:
perhaps the parents could lead by example too....


It is simplistic to assume that "School runners" are all making simple round trips from home to school delivering only a single child.

In practace many are "dropping off" on their way to another destination (work, shopping etc) or having to deliver several children to different schools many miles appart. School children sometimes also have to carry a lot of stuff too.

When I was young you went to your "Local" school which was typically only 10 mins walk away. Today things are more complex! :cry:

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Dusty wrote:
It is my understanding that teachers tend to carry quite a lot of stuff with them when they go to and from work. this is probabally why they are reluctant to cycle.


A common myth (Excuse?). They do not go home with armfulls of homework to mark every night. I do know of several who motorcycle to work, summer and winter. I do not know of any that cycle.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 17:32 
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Gizmo wrote:
Dusty wrote:
It is my understanding that teachers tend to carry quite a lot of stuff with them when they go to and from work. this is probabally why they are reluctant to cycle.


A common myth (Excuse?). They do not go home with armfulls of homework to mark every night. I do know of several who motorcycle to work, summer and winter. I do not know of any that cycle.


One should Also note that, unlike in the dark ages when I went to school, a teachers salery will no longer buy a house close to the school I once went too.

(the headmaster used to (and still does, though now retired) live in a house about 6 doors down from the school. the rest of the staff were no more than 10 minits walk away)

The teachers now commute from as far as 20 miles away to work there!

The old playground is now the staff car park! :(

I imagine this is not uncommon, especially in the south east.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 22:15 
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Dusty wrote:
Quote:
perhaps the parents could lead by example too....


It is simplistic to assume that "School runners" are all making simple round trips from home to school delivering only a single child.

In practace many are "dropping off" on their way to another destination (work, shopping etc) or having to deliver several children to different schools many miles appart. School children sometimes also have to carry a lot of stuff too.

When I was young you went to your "Local" school which was typically only 10 mins walk away. Today things are more complex! :cry:



I am amazed at what the kids have to hump around. I used to have a proper school desk. Ours have a small locker for the daily items. :roll:


We drop off at the bus stop or the school itself if we are passing that way. When we had our foster from hell though. .. one of us escorted to registration and the other copped him on the way out again :roll:

When out twins were in Year 13.. they took the" litter" with them as it was much easier ..

Also the teachers do travel a long way. It does amaze me that one lives local and teaches miles away.. whilst another travels from the place she teaches in to teach at her local school. They teach the same subject :? :shock: too.


A motorbike does have a bit more store space for gear and a bit more stable too as it does not require physical pedalling with a load. I know it is harder to ride and requires a bit more stamina - :wink: when I have the youngest attached in the trailer.


Depends on the school and what they teach or intend to set as homeworkas to amount of marking and lesson planning. :wink:

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This week's CW also looks at this problem

Typically they play the "obesity card". A little less Ronald MacDonald and a bit more home cooking might work .. but as Jamie Oliver has discovered.. getting the kids to eat this is not quite so simple.. :roll: :popcorn:


CW suggests placing cycling on the National Curriculum. Well.. :scratchchin: lots of schools offer Bikeability initiatives.. and the curriculum as I understand the situation is already overloaded. I know the Swiss teacher - Jess - had to juggle swimming against cycling on a rolling programme with her Year 7/8s at the school she teaches at.


CW wonders how we'd get kids to ride on

Quote:

Britain's hostile roads


:banghead:

and then goes off on one over Denmark.. :popcorn: who apparently passed an Act forcing all councils to provide safe routes ot schools in 1976.


Err... these are not all cycle routes .. and some involve decent public transport and SCHOOL BUSES too. But again .. many of their new schools ae built with a varied safe infrastructure and network which includes a networked cycleway.. but then it was designed that way and they have always had a cycling history or culture like Holland .
anyway :popcorn:


This country is not Denmark and its towns and residential areas are a lot different. As said on another thread.. we have to plan with what we've got here :popcorn:


But its seems that whilst adults are taking to bicycles in droves in London.. this is not the case elsewhere per government figures (CW) and they gleefully report that of 175 000 kids surveyed in 2005, 30% said they wanted to cycle to school but only 1% actually did so.

There has been a 60% increase in kids being ferried to school and 11-16 year old obesity levels have doubled over the last 10 years.


(Look .. it's turkey twizzlers with chips for lunch and a cheesburger with chips for tea.. with packets of crisps and fizzy drinks in-between :roll: and whislt CW claims it needs a Jamie Oliver.. let's face facts .. kids are not eating the heallthier options by all accounts and sneaking off to the chippy. It used to be smoking or snogging a girl behind the bike sheds . :wink: Now it's :shock: sharing a chip butty :shock: )

CW looks at what the UK has


Sustrans


.. well they have done some decent work in the areas they work in.. but this seems to be more London based by all accounts.



British Cycling Go Ride

Aimed at under 18s - trained British Cycling coaches work with kids of all abilities - playing fun games to get the skills - in traffic free areas like playgrounds.

Scheme can only work in a traffic free environment and is mor aimed at getting the kids enthused about the sport :popcorn:


CTC - "defending" cyclists' rights"


:popcorn:

They want 20 mph speed limits and moan about being asked to comply with them themselves :popcorn: such as letter to the Standard last year .. purported to have been written by one of their officers over cops nicking speeding cyclists in Richmond Park .,.. :popcorn:

Whether it was or not .. :roll: but he editor did pass comment that the law applied to all. :popcorn:

CW wrote:
CTC wants touigh penalities imposed on drivers and wants cyclsits to have the right to use the roads and the pavements.. and no car allowed to use bus lanes at any time so that cyclists can use them



Hang on.. did they not say they did not want cycle lanes and wanted to use the roads and be part of the traffic :scratchchin:


With this lot .. it's no wonder folk are put off by the whole idea. They just put backs up and bring out the Clarkson in the Miss Daisys,, in addition to the Jezzas out there :yikes: :popcorn:


The CTC wants transport integrated so that cyclists can take bikes on buses, trains and planes... and want cycle hire at every station too.

How about adopting the continental way where you just hire the bike regardless.

Successes include changing the Highway Code to have equality with cars...


Err.. it does not quite mean what they think it means and may be in for a reality shock when dealing with insurers :popcorn: and the police when they break the law :wink: and

Quote:
getting a judge to overturn the conviction of a man fined for not using a cycle lane"



Actually .. he was charged with reckless cycling and the cycle lane was a bit a of red herring in some ways. He was proven to be correctly in a primary position for the direction he wanted to travel in in reality.// when you read into it properly :wink: and not the internet version :wink: I agree that the arresting officers were pretty silly .. along with the CPS on that occasion.. but nowt like a bit of positive spin. :wink:


Cycle England

Very poorly funded organisation charged with getting bums on saddles and to promote safety.

Replaced the National Cytcling Strategy and like its predecessor . never gets any cash, :roll:

They got £5m .. upped to £15m on a green whim :roll:

CW launches a new campaign

:listenup:

Kids must be able to race their bikes in school time 8-) 8-)



Cycling must be given equal time to football



:shock: Steady on.. that's the "new religion" :popcorn: :shock: But agree shared time might lead to a better balance anyway.

cycling must be on the timetable. Millions can race bikes each day


:? Now you know that won't happen// :roll: Racing .. that's competition and a :nono: according to nanny of the deferred success mindset :roll:


Sound values .. but the UK has to develop its own strategy and perhaps the other places have more cyclists because each party simply gets on with each other on the roads without the militant clap trap from a minority on the one hand and political correct stupidity on the other.

Agree that we need to get cycling and road sense as part of the education all the same


But cycling in itself will not stop obesity.. diet is the main key and sadly Jamie is up against teenagers... as is cycling as a way of commuting life. If they do not want to.. no amount of coaxing will work.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 00:41 
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CW Star letter this week is from a teacher who was inteested in the CW campaign but who accuses the mag of not seeking the opinions of those on the chalk face,

He accuses the mag of being "naive" in its conclusions - and I think my style of reporting this also gave away that I was feeling the same way there. :roll:

The teacher points out that PE at KS 1/2 require 75 minutes and just 90 minutes at KS 3. But does not specify which sport and points out not all focus on football and athletics.


I think this is how Jess gets over the problem as she splits the activities to include cycling within the sports crtiteria ... and usually tennis and swimming appear to be the ones halved with cycling in the terms. :roll:



The teacher points out that in the 190 days of teacher/learning time - kids face tuition in 13 subject areas. (Goodness.. how the heck did I survive 11 O Levels :shock:)


But the teacher CW reader accepts that obesity is an issue to deal with .. and that teachers are doing their bit but states

Paul Teacher wrote:

Your suggestion "Let's keep things simple - put cycling on the National Curriculum - suddenly you have millions of kids racing every week" is as laughable as it is impractical.

Vicky Pollard on a bike? Lauren Cooper on a bike?

Are they bovvered?


:popcorn:

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CW follows up this week by pointing out that London spend £5 per head on cycling compared to 20p per head elsewhere.


{Apart from the "beacon towns" which had grants. :popcorn:)


Go Ride has created 140 clubs for kids and in the past 7 years - the scheme has provided training for dozens or so potential "Olympians"

They want "safe routes to schools" and lots of after-school facilities to "engage kids into the sport"
Quote:

It will foster an ethic of exercise..




Um.. they have to want to .. er train. You are compteing against the lure of computer games. I do not think some folk appreciate the battles parents have with computer games .. telly and bed in the case of teenagers :banghead:

SUSTRANS


They have only benefited 45 out of 26 000 schools. Their aim to provide safe cycle routes to every school is flawed by over-ambition. Not every school can realistically have this facility short of re-location,. :popcorn:

Sustrans want cycling to have the same status as swimming :?


Swimming myay not always be offered above year 8 in many schools because of timetabling restraints :shock:

Swimming can save a life anyway - and is a more comprehensive work-out .. so somehow.. it will retain priority here. :popcorn:

LA should put 10% of transport budget towards walking/cycling.

To qualify - kids have to live about 3.5 miles from school and many will just take the bus. :shock: Sorry ,.. but they will...


CTC aims to have half the kids trained up with Bikeability by 2007.

But not every LA has forked out and the CTC thinks it unlikely that cycling will be put on the National Curriculum. It could be included in the mandatory two hours per week PE - but up to schools.


CTC reckons

Quote:

Pressing for a 20 moh speed limit will change British neighbourhoods overnight and this will be the biggest thing it can do



SO how will this get bums on saddles :popcorn: They will drive to the end of he road and then drive as normal.. :popcorn:


I think he cyclists have to put up a much better argument and be a heck of a lot less pompous and a lot more realistic in what they can achieve to promote interest in cycling.

So far .. they have not convinced me and I do ride a bicycle and insist my own kids do.


So if they cannot convince someone who does cycle and still enjoys a car..

how the heck do they think they will get Clarksonesque types on a bicycle? :popcorn:


Sorry.. CW etc.. but as the teacher reader PAUL says.. you are gonna have to do a lot better here.

:popcorn:


Not being wet blanket on high fired up hopes... but we have to be realistic and not idealistic. :popcorn:

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This week Keith Bingham of CW talks to two schools.. one which can do cycling and one which cannot offer it.


Teacher and Cyclist Paul D does know all about the benefits derived from cycling.. but says it's impractical to offer in many schools as part of the PE curriculum. He teaches in a primary school in Milton Keynes - which has 220 kids aged 7-11.

His school serves an area of some

Quote:

considerable deprivation


Sport is a key area in his school with strong links to MK Dons and MK Lions.

Paul D says his school does have coaches coming into his school to deliver rugby/gymnastics and dance lessons.. and also meplys a coach to help train support staff to deliver PE lessons. He also says his school offeres after-school running/cricket/football and athletics and busses the older children to the local secondary to use their gym and also busses children to the local authority swimming pool.

But cycling :? :oops: :?

Paul D in CW wrote:

Who will teach cycling? Where will these bikes come fromand where will I take them to cycle


CW wrote:

He said he would not take the children cycling on the Milton Keynes Redway cycling system .. implying it was unsafe



Sigh.. the other thing CW etc have to remember is that he has to ensure a LOT of very young kids would be safe in this situation. A group of say 15-20 small kids do take a lot of supervision when in a "school crocodile walk" after all. I thus do not think he is meaning that cycling on this network is unsafe.. rather that the logistics of supervising 15 -20 children does present problems to the teachers who can find themselves being done for manslaughter if things go wrong on these activities :popcorn:

To be fair to him ...

Ian Drake .. deputy CEO of British Cycling wrote:

Paul makes extremely valid points about the practicalities of doing this as we stand right now, and hte reality is that is ould need a significant change in both the infrastructure in schools, local cimmunities and the routes to schools



:yesyes: North Face of the Eiger... :popcorn:

But Ian D comments that

Quote:

Swimming is on the National Curriculum .,. but not all schools have a pool on site - so why can't the same thing happen for cycling?



Well.. :scratchchin:


1. Swimming is a definite life skill as this can save a life if you fall into water. It's also a much more comprehensive work out for the body and low-impact stress in the water too :bow:

2. All areas have a pool provided by the local councils which do have sessions reserved for the state primaries.


It may not be possible given the location and residential estate nature of these schools ... because let's face facts here.: Schools are not somewhere out in the country - nor always on main roads. Most of them serve the commununity and are situated within fair reach of a number of residential housing estate clusters. It may not then be that easy to build a "traffic free route linking all the feeder primaries and their secondary school. To do would mean bulldozing a lot of estates and existing schools and re-building with such specific civil engineering.


I live in the here and now and not in some pipe dream land which has not a hope in hell of becoming reality and we thus have to look at how to EDUCATE with a firm grasp of risk assessment and a safety led approach .. without undermining common sense and a bit of "derring do" :wink:

However, Jessika (one of the riff raff :lol: once removed thankfully :P form me as a relative :lol: ) became Head teacher in an inner city former "sink school".. her task was to "re-float it".. and she has moved it from foundering on the rocks to a fairly respectable results history. But she introduced cycling into the curriculum immediately - but had to juggle it with a "rolling fluctuate programme" with tennis, cricket, PE sessions and swimming.


But she arranged for half the group to do cycling and the other half normal PE and then swap over. She did likewise with the other sports. She has been doing this since 2002. (As well as offering "COAST"/Green Cross as part of :listenup: PSE/CITIZENSHIP :lol:

She's the head .. so she got the odd shool fund raiser "fayre" and some top up from the LA to purchase her basic bikes on a bulk deal from Halfords :lol: She has since had a grant from BC to buy a few more :lol: ain recognition of her "GOOD WORK!"


Not a bad result for a "Swiss idiot" :wink: who likes a good track day :lol: nd loathes speed cam nonsenses. :lol:

But CW does not have the story of a school serving an area of

Quote:
considerable social deprivation


in Merseyside


But Icknield High School (wherever Icknield is :? ) The Head of PE there is a keen cyclist. She has the support of the Headteacher, Sustrans, Icknield RC cycling club and British Cycling. The Sustrans Bike It officer helped the school secure additional cycling parking, and there are cycling club runs

Quote:

in the summer


{quote=Icknield RC member Richard N in CW"]
The cycling club spent one whole day at the school and handled 4 different PE lessons. The kids were offered a choice of netball, or baskketball indoors or cycling.

About half chose cycling even though it was winter.

BC provided 20 bikes and helmets for this session and it worked really well. The LA is also providing Bikeability and Dr Bike Maintenance classes.


It's a win-win situation as the school have a lesson taken off their hands and we have a chance to get kids cycling [/quote]

Richard N points out there are grants available for buying bikes and a storage container for them


OK .. a team effort - but how many clubs out there put their time and money where their mouths are.

Also - how often is this and what is the superviser to kids ratio if on the roads. Are they split into small groups as easier to teach? :scratchchin:


Commendable. :bow:

of course. More than most are achieving :bow:

. but more to it than meets the eye. Jess keeps her charges within the school boundary and the Bikeability coach she hires has no more than five with him at any one time if he's teaching around the residential roads and the one main road around this school. (School fron is on a 40 mph road... but Jess closed off the main road entrance which means the kids enter and leave the school at a "quieter point" :wink:

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 22:12 
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£140m funding investment into training of the under 10s has been unveiled by Ruth Kelly. It seems this will also include adults.

Quote:

It will reduce congestion



And result in bicycle congestion? :scratchchin:

Not at all against cycling but very much pro free choices to suit circumstances. :wink:


Choice has to be paramount and if we are within realistic cycle commute distance and able and fit enough or not burdened with baggage .. then fine. Not so fine if impractical. :wink: I drove our kids this morning. It was just too wet for them to ride or bus it.

cash to be invested over three years. They say it will also fund cycle routes to schools. And 10 more "beacon cycling towns".


Ummm .;;l; planning costs..building materials .. labour costs..


Errrr.. it will not eek out quite per the PR.. :scratchchin: Ruthy.. you are failing to deliver yet again. "R-ewe-th the to slaugher" :wink:


Forget the paths. If you teach to ride per COAST skills.. you get the safety assurance :wink: Cyclists don't need these. They do need proper training though :wink:

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 14:33 
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CW this week also picks up on this story. Launched on Monday - it has to cover work for next three years.. of providing Bikeability for just 500,000 more kids and a so-called 250 "safe links to schools"

OK - if there is a possible loop line or track and I know the Mad Doc's two sisters already say that the "loop line" (old railway route which has been landscaped to provide a decent walk/jog route/horse route and cycle route around their "urban villages") does link at least two feeder primaries with three secondaries on its rounds. Unfortunately - this could become a victim of Manchester's Congestion Charge bid as this old rail track route is also ideal as a potential tram link from Manchester to Leigh via the leafy Worsley "des res 'burb" :popcorn: (per the two girls who are fairly active MART campaigners :lol: as far as constraints on their time allow :wink: )

I think this dilemma as the girls are keen to save their fave "bit of rough riding on doorstep" does highlight the problems and opportunity costs of civil engineering and networked routing problems involved with our old towns and villages. :popcorn: £140m will not go very far either with escalating costs and a realistically potential upturn in overall inflation. We all know about the Millennium Dome and now the "Landon Lumpits" costs. Not to mention the Wembley Stadium final bills. I thus fear that we will not see that much return over the three years and may well end up paying up the orginal £240m demanded by Cycling England and even then not getting the right results :roll:


I would be inclined to forget the paths - especially the nonsense ones and go for maximum hit on Bikeability provision :wink:

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 15:59 
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CW now "sceptical" about Labour Ministers in their campaign to get cycling included in the National Curriculum.

Jim Knight MP (now education minister) proved elusive despite his earlier "rosy smell" when as s transport minister he caved in on amendments to the Highway Code in favour of cyclists :roll: (But read ithe Highway Code carefully. It does not actually say what the militia want it to mean :wink: :popcorn: There will be a few harsh surprrises for them - let's put it that way :popcorn:)
.

Similarly Ed Balls is scoring a duck as far as CW is concerned. It just ain't cricket, Ed!!

Even our Ken has become a "Scarlet Pimpernel" - but does get his lackey to deliver a few soothing lines when really pressed.

What CW want is basically unachievable.

1. The want cycling to be on the National Curriculum with the same status as swimming, athletics and PE. Problem? Equipment for starts and trained staff. Jess manages to include in her school - and gets around the problem by splitting classes on a rolling programme. She also has keen cyclists on her staff who are also Bikeability trained. But not all teachers are au fait or even competent themselves on a bicycle. Basically it's not so much an "equipment issue" as a "training staff to deliver one" :popcorn:

CW accuses the government of "not even considering the matter and merely adressing health, sport and the environment" :? I think more the logistics of finding trained staff and equipment. Plus the little fact that teachers do not want to end up in court on charges of manslaughter should anything go pear-shaped with an unruly child. Children are not atall "little angels" al the time. All parents, teachers and police know this to be fact. :banghead: Will only take one to do a daft wheely and teacher is in deep s:censored:t and this manure would not grow roses either. !
It seems CW have been told to contact Lord Adonis (in charge of school transport) or Kevin Brennan on child health - including "childhood obesity" - which could just be "puppy fat" in some cases. :popcorn:


2. They want traffic free routes to school.

Pipe dream. Sorry. But it's a pipe dream. Schools are either one main roads or residentials roads. There will then always be a motor vehicle around. Traffic clamed routes? Almost all residentials these days do have humps or chicanes and they do not exactly help matters either. :popcorn: as folk speed between the humps or the humps are too high and these high humps - along with pinch points ain't exactly fun from a cycling point of view :roll:

CW" on Q2 wrote:
The DfE will not press the DfT to lower speed limits. It's not their department


No .. and rightly so. Each Ministry is supposed to deal with its own specifics after all.

3. CW wants to know what the Education Dept will be doing to assist Cycling England in the expansion of its schools programme?

Well :scratchchin: Cycling England will be better off dealing directly with the schools.


Oh and in the final paragraph - the penny has dropped that the cash will only train up 500,000 kids aged 10 and over to ride properly. There are over 6 million kids aged 5-15 years .. :popcorn:

Might I make a suggestion here. Instead of giving a fruit and veg allowance to a pregnant mum on benefits - which she can spend however she wants (and I will bet lettuce and tomatoes never appear on her bacon butties :roll:) - how's about giving a voucher to all parents for a family session of Bikeability to Level Thrree. There! Cycling lesson for all at one fell swoop and you never know - it might just convince the parents that cycling is actually rather safe really :popcorn:

:yikes: Though ..., mumpty on the school run on a bicycle..

But surely less dangerous than her parking skills :boxedin:

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 20:52 
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OK n CW challenge Kev Brennan in the DfE as ti wht cycling is not on the national curriculum.

Brennan holds the view that it's up to the individual schools and what they can deliver in PE. I know Jessika had to make some hard choices and resolved by rotating swimmng.. tennis.. cricket . dance and cycling within each year group

Schools are under pressures . They want more like Vesuvius and Etna on the boil up :yikes:

SO YES .. with a forward thinking head like Jessika :bow: I guess a school can "deliver enthusiasm for a bicycle"

me ... and the Swiss are no enemies of a cyclist :wink: We promote positively where we can and within the law and common sense. I am on the helmet side . I suppose from experience that muelsli munching idiots class such opinions as "anti -cycling" when all opined was a view that a helmet could be useful :popcorn:

Brennan claims schools have a "travel plan" Some do. to many do not :popcorn: Given the location of many - I do doubt "delivery of promises" :popcorn:

interestingly Brenan told CW

[quote="Brennan in CW"]

30 % of peak hour traffic is the school run[/'quote]

Look.. the mad Cats pay £400 p3##er term for the school bus to the schools in question. I pay similar to ensure my kids get to school. I pay each term. It seems a lot of cash ... but it's really what accumulates over a term . but I pay in advance here :wink: as do the mad Cats ., :lol:

Oh ,, we agree // kids should be encoruaged to ride a bicycle. But like anything else , they learn best from parents and we should really then promote cycling as a family activtiy if we are to get bums on saddles as the commuter future :wink:


We are not at all the enemy. :)

We are PRO JUSTICE so how we choose to travel :wink: and this fight against automation and pro- traditional does improve the lot of thge cyclist and can be held to help folk keep it safe out there :wink:

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A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
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Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.


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