Birmingham: This week is the 100th annual Bike Week, marking a century of celebrating everyday cycling for everyone. On 30 May 2023, to celebrate Bike Week, Birmingham Central Mosque hosted The Active Wellbeing Society to run free cycling sessions for children living in deprived areas of Birmingham.
More than 45 children took part and have been registered for a free cycle scheme. Most of the children participating were from the Dream Chaser Youth Club (DCYC) – a Birmingham-based non-profit organisation for children living in deprived areas, which organises sports activities to help youth escape crime and support sporting talent within the community.
Travel Smart and make a saving
The sessions are part of a broader initiative from Birmingham City Council called Travel Smart. The initiative is to encourage people to walk and cycle instead of using a motorised vehicle. This is even more importance during the current cost-of-living crisis which is hitting everyone hard. Travel Smart aims to make people aware that walking and cycling could be a great way to make a saving, particularly for short journeys like dropping off the kids at school, the commute into work, going to places of worship, meeting up with local family members, and visiting the GP. These are usually journeys under two miles and are the most frequent, daily journeys we make.
The average car owner spends over £1000 a year just on petrol (Link here) and it can be even more if the car is diesel – this amount does not include the insurance, MOTs and other car-related costs! The President of the AA has also encouraged people to walk and cycle, he said: “We would urge drivers at the moment to cut out shorter car journeys if they are able to do so and walk or cycle to save money.” (Link here)
Health benefits
Each person will have different circumstances, but there could be some real benefits to making the change. Over the last few years due to COVID-19 there have been a lot of challenges around mental health and wellbeing. Simply being outside and active can really help. Also, moderate physical activity can help keep coronary heart disease and diabetes at bay. Moderate intensity activities can include brisk walking or riding a bike, these raise your heart rate and make you breathe faster. One way to tell if you’re working at a moderate intensity level is if you can still talk, but not sing (NHS).
Great for the environment
There is a real focus on reducing the amount of traffic in residential neighbourhoods in Birmingham so that it is nicer to be outside and safer for people to walk and cycle – the Travel Smart initiative helps achieve this ambition. The Low Traffic Neighbourhood plan has involved placing a 20mph speed limit set to be extended for Kings Heath and Moseley (Link here). There are also segregated cycle lanes, making journeys into the city a lot safer and quicker. These are the blue tracks to the side of some of the roads across Birmingham and are just for bikes. These segregated cycle lanes are expanding all the time and there have been consultations (information on Birmingham City Council) for more to come for a new section on Dudley Road.
Road Safety and Cycling Support
Safety concerns are constantly highlighted when talking about cycling. There are lots of activities in schools to make children aware of Road Safety and also several opportunities for free sessions around the city which teach about cycling safely. The Active Wellbeing Society frequently run free Bikeability sessions, like the sessions at the Birmingham Central Mosque. During these sessions, children are given a bike and helmet to help them become confident and safe cyclists. There is also the Saheli Hub Cycling Club which is just for women and is free, and also Midland Mencap who run parkride sessions for families with children with special educational needs and/ or disabilities.
Separately, it’s also a lot easier now to find places to park your bike now. Bike racks have been handed out to 50 community organisations after the Commonwealth Games. This includes places of worship like Sparkbrook Islamic Centre. (Link here)
Join the movement now on social media:
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/ItsTolaTime
