This campaign has now closed

Wheels for Wellbeing runs "Cycling for All" in Croydon and "Bikes in the Park" in Lambeth. These projects enable disabled people of all ages to enjoy the benefits of cycling. Cycling with us is easily accessible and family, friends and supporters are equally welcome. Our wide range 3 and 4 wheelers such as trikes, handcycles, tandems, recumbent and wheelchair cycles means nearly everyone can find a cycle to suit them.

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Categories

  • Animals Animals
  • Health/Wellbeing Health/​Wellbeing
  • Sports/Recreation Sports/​Recreation
  • Beneficiaries

    • Children (3-18) Children (3-18)
    • Older People Older People
    • Women & Girls Women & Girls
    • Young People (18-30) Young People (18-30)
    • Other Other

    Situation

    We usually run regular weekly 3 hour sessions in Lambeth and two 3 hour sessions a week in Croydon. In addition, where possible, we run weekly sessions for disabled children in the summer holidays as well as lessons for children from special schools during term time. Disabled people from neighbouring boroughs love cycling with us too. We are unable to run our Lambeth sessions at the moment as we were the victim of an arson attack which destroyed all our cycles. We are insured but it will take time to get the insurance money through and take receipt of the cycles, some of which can take 12 weeks to arrive as they are made to order. It is a blow to us and means the other developments we are planning will be delayed. We already have 400 disabled people registered with us, with about the same number of family members and supporters also signed up. But there is space for more people to join us. About 50 groups such as special schools, residential homes and day centres make use of our services. We know from the number of visits - in Croydon in 2008/9 we had 2200 visits by disabled people and 1500 visits by their supporters/ family members/ friends – that people like our service. And we also know that we make an impact on the lives of our visitors. Our survey of Croydon visitors in March 2009 showed that:  68% of our participants felt better as a result of cycling with us  79% felt fitter and  84% had fun. It’s not just our participants who like what we do. Pro-active South London and the London Sports Forum for Disabled People cite Cycling for All as a best practice example of increasing participation for disabled Londoners. And Westminster Council will be contracting with us to provide regular weekly sessions in their borough starting in 2010. It costs £125k a year to provide all our activities, sustain and develop our services and provide a lead through the London Disability Cycling Forum to get cycling taken seriously for disabled people. Of this, office staff costs are £71k, sessional staff and mechanic costs are £33k and the balance covers cycling equipment such as helmets or callipers to attach to pedals, parts/ consumables for repairing & servicing our cycles and running costs. The cost of new cycles is excluded from this.

    Solution

    100%
    Categories

  • Animals Animals
  • Health/Wellbeing Health/​Wellbeing
  • Sports/Recreation Sports/​Recreation
  • Beneficiaries

    • Children (3-18) Children (3-18)
    • Older People Older People
    • Women & Girls Women & Girls
    • Young People (18-30) Young People (18-30)
    • Other Other