Festival of Leisure this weekend

Festival of Leisure Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th June - 12.30-5pm.

The South Derbyshire Festival of Leisure will be taking place on Saturday 29th June and Sunday 30th June at Maurice Lea Park in Church Gresley.

We will be attending on the Sunday.  We will be raising awareness of Sustrans again and aim to have an updated display showing what we have achieved over the last few months, particularly the work done on the Ashby Woulds Heritage Trail.

There will also be some information relating to our National Cycle Route - 63

We are also currently stocking up on maps and leaflets to hand out.

Here, once again is a reminder of our stall in 2012 - hopefully 2013 will be less windy.

New Gym Equipment Proving Popular in Church Gresley

Part of our section of NCN63 now passes through Maurice Lea Park in Church Gresley.  For those wanting  to extend exercise beyond cycling there are now 6 pieces of outdoor gym equipment around the perimeter of the Green Flag Park.

The equipment has been in for a couple of weeks but was only unveiled officially on Thursday 20th June.  It has proved to be very popular with lots of people using it and also taking to social media forums to announce their satisfaction.  The equipment is very accessible and easy to use.

  The project was funded using a grant and is a pilot project which, if successful, will be expanded to other areas.

The equipment tendering process was carefully considered with input invited groups with an interest in health & well-being.  This included trying out equipment already installed in other areas.  A display also featured at the Healthier South Derbyshire day in March with the public invited to make comment.

The 6 pieces of equipment are spread out through the park so it encourages a circuit based approach and makes it less likely for people to congregate around.

The equipment is aimed at everybody over the age of 12 and some of the equipment is suitable for use by wheelchair users.  Each piece of equipment has instructions on and shows the parts of the body worked during the exercise and how long is recommended for each level of user.

Shoulder exercise wheels feature lower wheels for  wheelchair users 

Instructions on all equipment

The initial response has been very positive with the equipment being very well by young and old including people recovering from illness.

The Rower

Along with the positive comments on social media and the Burton Mail has featured the equipment 3 times, including those below.

http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/News/New-gym-gear-could-deter-nefarious-behaviour-in-the-park-20130618122917.htm

http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/News/Chairman-is-a-real-outdoor-gym-bunny-20130621112448.htm

Festival of Leisure Fast Approaching

The South Derbyshire Festival of Leisure will be taking place on Saturday 29th June and Sunday 30th June at Maurice Lea Park in Church Gresley.

We will be attending on the Sunday.  We will be raising awareness of Sustrans again and aim to have a updated display showing what we have achieved over the last few months, particularly the work done on the Ashby Woulds Heritage Trail.

We are also currently stocking up on maps and leaflets to hand out.

Here is a reminder of our stall in 2012

Ride and Meeting in Coalville

On Sunday 9th June, we cycled over to Coalville from Church Gresley Park via NCN to Donisthorpe then through Willesley Woodside through Packington, Heather, Ravenstone and eventually Coalville.

We met up with our colleagues from Leicestershire and rode through Scence Valley Park near Ibstock before cycling back onto NCN63 through Battram Wood to Bagworth and then to Interlink Business Park in Bardon.

The purpose of this ride was to showcase the completed Coalville cycle routes as recently opened by Olympic Gold medal cyclist Dani King.  The work done is very impressive with well signed routes, improved junctions and increased width shared paths.

The map can found on the following link:
http://www.leics.gov.uk/coalville_urban_hi.pdf

Improved Junction

Clear markings to indicate shared path

Widened Shared Path next to busy A511

Clear signs

 Following a ride around this new network, after a wonderful lunch we set back off for Church Gresley taking a detour through Swannington, Worthington, up the Cloud Trail to Melbourne then through Calke Abbey, back up the gruelling Pistern Hill then back through Woodville and via Albert Village Lake.  Our total distance covered was 54 miles.

Burton Signing Update

Our Project to extend NCN route 63 is now pretty much complete.  The route is now signed from Route 54 at Shobnall by the Trent & Mersey Canal through to Duke Street in Burton with links to the Railway Station.

We are now awaiting a change to the online mapping on the website and we can improve the signing with some bespoke destination stickers to improve the signage but as the picture below shows, the signs now show NCN63 signs to replace the excessive route 54 signs in the town centre and remove signs for route 541 which never existed.