Play on Pedals was busy over October, here’s a taste of some of what we have been up to…

Events:

Play on Pedals attended the Glasgow Play Get Together at the Mitchell Library. Here, a diverse mix of play associations, adventure play workers, early years practitioners and representatives from Glasgow Life and Play Scotland came together to talk about the play opportunities taking place in Glasgow and consider the option of coordinating a Play Forum. It was very interesting to hear from these organisations, to consider some of the obstacles they face in the delivery of their work, including delivering street play sessions, closing streets, preparing children and parents for messy, outdoor play and encouraging parental involvement in sessions. Play on Pedals presented a brief overview of the project, promoting the training opportunities and resources available. We also heard from Playbusters, the Jeely Piece Club, PEEK and the Baltic Street Adventure Playground about all their amazing work – it was inspiring to be in a room with people committed to improving the play facilities and opportunities for young people in Glasgow.

Play on Pedals also attended the Bridgeton Community Centre half term family day along with the Glasgow Bike Station’s Dr Bike. Children were able to have a go on the Play on Pedals bikes and parents asked questions about the types of bikes they could buy their children for Christmas, which sizes are most appropriate and what are the benefits of a balance bike.

New connections:

Following from the Glasgow Play Get Together, Play on Pedals met with the nursery manager from the Jeely Piece Club to discuss their involvement as a Hero Organisation and deliverer of the training in Castlemilk. An additional meeting with Glasgow Life Communities at the Castlemilk Community Centre sparked ideas to bring together all the nurseries in the area to discuss who could host bikes, coordinate training, move bikes around and support Play on Pedals to expand in Castlemilk. Watch this space for exciting developments in the area….

Similarly exciting things are happening in Drumchapel, following a meeting with Healthy Tots, Happy Tots. Local groups are coming together and discussing a collaborative delivery of Play on Pedals in Drumchapel, potentially involving local bike shops, community centres, mother and toddler groups and nurseries. Training will start early next year and more info will come too…

And not forgetting either the South West or the East…

South West Community Cycles met with Play on Pedals in October to discuss roll out of the project in the Pollok area. The organisation already has fantastic instructors, mechanics and bike loan scheme and are well suited to train to support Play on Pedals reaching early years groups in the South West.

In the North East, the Easthall Residents Association are busy forming a group to work with in Drumchapel, and surrounding areas, with training set for December.

Training sessions:

In early October, Urban Fox hosted a training session for staff from FARE, PEEK, Urban Fox, Westercraigs nursery and Helenslea nursery. From this session, Westercraigs nursery have now received bikes ready to deliver training in their nursery and FARE has a set of bikes for distribution around their Easterhouse area.

Training has also been delivered to Al Meezan, an Islamic Community Centre in Bellahouston, which provides education and nursery facilities for women and children. Women here have been receiving bike training from the Glasgow Bike Station as part of their commitment to reducing carbon emissions through their Climate Challenge project. A team of women are promoting more active travel to the centre’s users and as part of this, Play on Pedals has also delivered training for Instructors to work with the centre’s many nursery children to encourage cycling confidence from a young age.

Additionally, a group of nurseries in Govan received Instructor training at the Govan Family Learning Centre and have now been given bikes to start their programmes. This increases the spread of nurseries across the south from Gorbals, Castlemilk, Pollok and Govan. Play on Pedals is working hard to complete the training of other nurseries in the area and to link these groups together through local Hero Organisations.