Children's centre staff re-cycle to appointments

Staff from one of Newcastle's children's centres are preparing to pedal their way around appointments from the end of the month after taking delivery of two special new bicycles.

Action for Children, the charity who run Cowgate and Blakelaw children's centre on behalf of Newcastle City Council, utilised the expertise of another local charity, Key Enterprises, to obtain two refurbished bikes for their family support workers.

The bikes will be used as transport for appointments in the Cowgate area and as well as cutting down on fuel costs, will help members of the team to get a healthy amount of exercise each week.

Caroline Herbert, from the children's centre, said: "I had the idea after we were all talking about how to get fit for the summer. There are lots of short journeys around here and using the car seems really wasteful. One of the team knew about the bike recycling scheme run by Key Enterprises and so we got in touch. Things just snowballed from there."

Steve Cowgill, from Key Enterprises, said: "This is the first time we've provided bicycles to another charity and it is great to have been involved with such a good idea. Using bikes to do shorter journeys is very practical and will hopefully help to promote cycling to a wider audience as well."

The bikes, which have been recovered by Northumbria Police and donated if not reclaimed, have been stripped down, repaired and checked over by the fully qualified technicians at Key Enterprises, who work with adults who suffer from mental health problems and/or learning difficulties. Key Enterprises can be contacted on 0191 2701138 and more information found on their website www.key-enterprises.com