Staff from seven different schools in North Wales recently had the opportunity to take part in a training session on bike maintenance skills, thanks to the Active Journeys programme, funded by Welsh Government. The session was run with the support of Beics Antur, a social enterprise based in Caernarfon.
Staff from seven schools across Gwynedd and Ynys Môn took part in a bike maintenance training session. Credit: Sustrans.
One of the aims of the Active Journeys programme, funded by Welsh Government, is to promote and sustain active travel as a sustainable mode of travelling to school for communities across Wales.
In North Wales, staff from seven schools across Gwynedd and Ynys Môn had the chance to attend a basic bike maintenance training session, in partnership with Beics Antur, a social enterprise from Caernarfon.
The aim of the session was to teach staff from the different schools different practical skills in terms of assessing and fixing basic problems, so that they could then pass that knowledge onto their students.
Sharing skills and information, developing ability among the community
The training session was supported by Tom Workman, a mechanic from Beics Antur, and the session was funded by Sustrans Cymru’s schools programme, Active Journeys.
Active Journeys is funded by Welsh Government, who are keen to see more pupils, staff and the wider communities of our schools travelling actively to school.
“I really enjoyed the training arranged by Debbie from Sustrans and presented by Tom from Beics Antur,” said a teacher from Ysgol Cymerau.
“In the school, as we encourage the children to bring their bikes, very often we get kids arriving asking for help, for example with something wrong with their brakes and us not feeling confident enough to do anything with the wires.”
Staff were taught how to perform basic maintenance checks and how fix common problems. Credit: Sustrans.
“Tom’s given clear instruction to us on what’s possible for us in the school and what would need further attention by a bike mechanic.”
“We have 20 school bikes, bike maintenance for that many can be expensive, but by following the training from Tom I now feel confident enough to go at it with working on gears, tightening or slackening brakes, and fixing punctures – thank you for the opportunity to attend the course.”
By sharing and developing basic skills – such as correct use of equipment, how to check a bike before riding it, knowing how to clean and maintain the different components of a bike – the staff can now share this useful information with their pupils, with the parents and carers of the children and young people that attend the school, as well as other people in their communities.
Through education is the ability to become more knowledgeable and practical
As a result of this practical session, the school staff from this rural part of North West Wales had the knowledge on how to deal with simple mechanical issues on bikes.
Despite lots of people learning how to ride a bike as a child, the same can’t be said for learning maintenance skills.
Thanks to the support of Beics Antur, a part of the Antur Waunfawr [URL] social enterprise that offers opportunities to develop skills in their local community in a sustainable way, the people attending didn’t need to bring any of their own equipment.
The only thing they needed was the desire to learn and the readiness to get involved.
“I believe that the bike maintenance course has helped me to learn worthwhile skills,” said a staff member from Ysgol Glancegin.
“I’ll be passing on what I learned by offering lessons to the learners in my school on how to look after a bike.”
"Also, I've decided to have a 'Love Your Bike' day in April in my school, a day where learners can bring their bikes in to clean them, and to fix any problems they have."
