Just thought I'd give this some publicity:
Launch of Cycle Saturation Project at St Johns Catholic Primary School
in Rotherhithe on Wednesday, 13th April 2005 at 3:30pm
Rotherhithe Community Council has funded this £20,000 local project by
saturating the school with cycle training to encourage the take up of
cycling to school as an alternative to the children being driven to
school.
Jenny Jones, London Assembly Member and the London Mayors Road Safety
Ambassador, and Councillor Lisa Rajan, Chair of the Rotherhithe Community
Council will be launching the project at the school. The launch party will
include cycling fun and games and cycling experts on hand to offer
practical advice.
The project is being co-ordinated by Southwark Cyclists
(www.southwarkcyclists.org.uk), who selected St Johns school because of
the enthusiasm demonstrated by its head, Ms Jacinta Coyne and the pupils,
84% of whom expressed a desire to cycle to school. The key reasons why
the school is keen to be involved are that congestion caused by parents
driving to school is a huge problem for the school.
The school has already begun to encourage its pupils to cycle to school by
participating in the Healthy Schools initiative which has yielded 30 cycle
racks for the school. The Cycle Saturation project, managed on a day to
day basis by SEA/RENUE (www.sustainable-energy.org.uk), will build on this
foundation by providing intensive cycle training for all pupils who
express an interest. Cycle Training UK (www.cycletraining.co.uk ) will
provide the instructors to train pupils and some parents, as well as
providing maintenance workshops to ensure that the childrens bicycles
are in a fit state. The project will assess the success of the initiative
by measuring school journeys by bicycle before and after the training.