Cycling Promotion in Swadlincote & Beat the Street coming soon.

As February turns to March we're looking forward to Spring.  The cold air around today reminds us that we're not quite there yet but hopefully the weather will improve soon and lead to an increase in people cycling and walking around the local area.

For those needing a bit of encouragement or knowledge about local cycling routes, we've collaborated with the new Visitor Information Centre (ViC) in Swadlincote to put together a pre-Spring display of cycling information relevant to the area.  The ViC already features plenty of leaflets related to cycling and walking but we have also brought some literature relating to the work that Sustrans does and brought some leaflets from neighbouring counties that were always well received on stalls done in the past.

In addition to this we've also created some new literature and displays showing the highlights of the local area for cycling and walking and also informing of new developments.

We've been given space in the ViC throughout March and have created some window displays to highlight the increase in cycling related information.  This has been enhanced by some cycling related display boards from the lovely people at The Magic Attic which is a local history archive based at Sharpe's Pottery and who regularly display evocative images of the history of the area throughout the town.  More information can be found on the website by 

clicking here..  

The cycling displays provided focus on the history of the Swadlincote Wheelers cycling club and also George Newberry who won an Olympic medal in the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki as captain of the 4000m pursuit team.  This was achieved at the age of 35 and followed service in World War 2.

We hope that the information provided is useful and does manage to encourage people to cycle.  Another event to encourage active lifestyles in the local area is the forthcoming Beat the Street game which will run in the area for just over a month.  The idea is to use a card to check in at various locations throughout the area but it must be done on foot or on bike.  There will be points given based on the check ins and it can be played as part of a team.  Realising that the description given probably doesn't properly explain, I advise you to check out the website by clicking this link.

The game, commissioned by South Derbyshire District Council working alongside several partners, officially starts at a launch event on March 15th and will be played through to April 26th.