South London News
Cycling for All
Cycling for All is a project to encourage and enable disabled people to cycle. Based at Croydon Sports Arena, Cycling for All is one of the largest cycling projects of its kind in the UK, in terms of users and frequency of sessions. The project runs throughout the year, with 2 sessions a week, every week.
Having started in 2001, Cycling for All now has 7 years operational experience and is working with partners to retain and grow this sustainable project. As a community based project Cycling for All has an excellent track record of working with and up-skilling volunteers and is looking to work with a local college to provide their Personal Best and Sports Leader trainees with volunteering experience. The project is also aiming to introduce training courses for support workers.
Research from the project’s August 2008 user base showed 84% of disabled users had learning difficulties as their primary impairment and 10% had a physical impairment. The remainder had mental health issues, other impairments or did not provide the information. In light of these results, the project has recently added an attendance charge which will be used to advertise the project more widely to people from other impairment groups and reduce current waiting times.
PRO-ACTIVE South London and London Sports Forum for Disabled People support Cycling for All as a best practise example to increase participation in sport and physical activity for disabled people in London. For more information on Cycling for All visit www.cyclingforall.org or contact christof@londonsportsforum.org.uk
