The Big Bike Ride event was organised by Llangollen Friends of the Earth, and was part of the Sustrans ‘Big Pedal’, a national event involving over 2,000 schools. More than 70% of pupils from both the English and Welsh medium primary schools decided to cycle, scoot, or walk to school that day instead of travelling by car.
The event in Llangollen was covered by ITV Cymru/Wales as well as BBC Radio Wales. You can read more about the event here.
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In Llangollen 240 children got together on Friday 29th March to cycle to school.
The event was organised by Friends of the Earth Llangollen, and was part of ‘The Big Pedal’, a national event involving over 2,000 schools More than 70% of pupils from both the English and Welsh medium primary schools decided to cycle, scoot, or walk to school that day instead of travelling by car.
Elin aged 7 said “It was really fun to cycle to school with my friends. Usually there are lots of cars at school which makes it difficult to cycle, but today there were hardly any cars and it was a lot better. I wish it could happen every day.”
Friends of the Earth Llangollen group coordinator Warren Davies said “Today has shown how easy and fun cycling can be. It wakes you up, it’s better for your health, and it’s just fun being outside in the fresh air. I have two young children and we would prefer to cycle to school every day. When they’re a bit older I’d like them to be able to cycle on their own, but the number of cars and lack of safe routes makes this very difficult.”
“We know cycling or walking is better for climate change and air pollution compared to driving. We also know that children are more at risk from the effects of pollution, so it’s important that we do more to improve air quality. The Welsh Government launched the Active Travel Act in 2013. To make progress we need the Welsh Government to provide more funding and clear leadership to councils in Wales.”
Headteacher of Bryn Collen, Lisa Howden said “Our learners love a challenge and we’re delighted to have taken part in the Big Pedal. We’ve been focusing on physical well being this year, taking part in Fitness Frenzy each break and the Daily Mile, so encouraging everyone to be active on their journey to school really complements that. We’re proud that our learners are aware of, and want to learn about, environmental and social issues. One of our year groups has recently chosen to learn about air pollution, so this event is also a practical response to that!”
Headteacher of Ysgol y Gwernant, Bethan Jones said “It’s great to be encouraging pupils and parents to walk, cycle and scoot to school. We have a responsibility to teach our pupils how to develop healthy lifestyles. It also links in with our Eco school initiatives and reduced traffic and pollution outside the school.”
In the UK 2,091 schools, nurseries, further education centres and after-school clubs are within 150 metres of a road with illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide.1 Air pollution costs lives and billions of pounds. It is one of the UK’s biggest killers, causing up to 36,000 early deaths in the UK every year, more than obesity or alcohol. Dirty air leads to worsening asthma symptoms, heart disease and even lung cancer. Air pollution has even been associated with changes in the brain linked to dementia and can lead to children growing up with smaller lungs.
The event organised by Llangollen Friends of the Earth aimed to encourage children and parents to consider cycling or walking to school instead of driving, showing how fun and beneficial it can be.
Thank you to Discount Sticker printing for your support of Llangollen Friends of the Earth! The banners were fantastic, and the stickers were a big hit with the 240 children who came along to The Big Pedal.
All top quality stuff delivered very quickly. Many thanks!
We’re excited that Ysgol Bryn Collen and Ysgol y Gwernant are going to be taking part in the 2019 Sustrans ‘Big Pedal’ event! It’s an inter-school annual event which aims to get pupils, parents and teachers cycling, scooting or walking to school.
In support of this event, parents and Llangollen Friends of the Earth are organising a one day bike ride from ST COLLEN’S CHURCH CAR PARK AT 8.20am, SETTING OFF FOR THE SCHOOLS ALONG THE A5 AND UP BROOK STREET. This route uses the Denbighshire County Council designated safe route to school.
Parents and students can join us by bike, scooter or on foot from St Collen’s or en-route up Brook Street to the primary schools.
This bike ride has been organised by parents and Llangollen Friends of the Earth, in collaboration with Ysgol Bryn Collen and in support of the Sustrans ‘Big Pedal’ event. For updates please see; www.facebook.com/LlangollenFoE.
NOTICE FOR DRIVERS, Friday 29th March, 8.20am.
If you’re driving on the A5 or up Brook Street around 8.20am, hopefully you’ll see more people cycling, scooting or walking than you would do usually. Please be aware this may lead to a short delay in journey times. We’d really love Llangollen to support both the children and their schools as they take part in this event. Thank you.
Llangollen and District Friends of the Earth signed up to the Refill Cymru campaign to promote free tap water in Llangollen. The aim is to reduce the use of single use water bottles in the town and therefore reduce litter and plastic pollution.
16 Businesses in Town have signed up to refill water bottles for free;
• White Waters Hotel & Spa
• M’Eating Point
• Llangollen outdoors
• Gails Wine Bar
• Vintage Rose Tea rooms
• Britannia Inn
• Valley Crucis Abbey Caravan Park & Bistro
• Pro Adventure
• Oak St Coffee
• Llangollen Oggie Shop & Fine Foods
• The Corn Mill
• Cellar Door
• Riverbanc
• Zingiber
• Rafa Club
• Station Café at Platform 1
For more information about refill campaign click here.
Here is a list of the businesses in Llangollen that have committed to swap plastic straws for more environmentally friendly straws or are do not provide plastic straws unless specifically requested;
•Oak Street Coffee
•Vintage Rose Tearoom
•Finleys Sandwich Bar
•Bensons Bar & Restaurant
•Buttered Crust
•RAFA Club
•The Bull Inn
•The Corn Mill
•The Wharf Café
•Llangollen Fringe Festival
•Llangollen Oggie Shop & Fine Foods
•The Sun Inn (Trevor)
•Courtyard Coffee Shop
•Riverbanc Cafe
•The Boathouse, Chirk
•The Bridge End Hotel
•Crown Inn Corwen
•New Dot Cinema
•TCC fundraising Event
•White Waters Hotel
•M’eating Point
•Gails Wine Bar
•Ysgol Bryn Collen Summer Fayre
•Valley Crucis Abbey
•Britannia Inn
•Llangollen Oggie Shop
•Cellar Door
Llangollen and District Friends of the Earth are trialling the crisp packet recycling scheme offered by Terracycle. We are interested to gauge local uptake of an extended Producer responsibility scheme, and are keen to hear from anyone using this scheme or any of the other free recycling schemes available.
Many schemes offer the public and community groups the opportunity to collect waste that would otherwise be unrecyclable (and is often found littering our streets) and send it off to be recycled into item to be used again. It also has the added benefit that these schemes are funded by the producers.
These schemes can help Wales and our local communities recycle more and hopefully discourage littering. Llangollen and District Friends of the Earth have set up a number of collection points for the Crisp packets in Llangollen and neighbouring towns.
Current drop offs for this scheme are;
Ysgol Bryn Clwyd in Llandyrnog
Miri Methrin Nursery in Pwllglas & Llysfasi
Ysgol Llanbedr
The Rafa Club Llangollen
Welsh Dee Trust in Llangollen
Ysgol Min Y Ddol in Cefn Mawr
Pengwern Community Centre, Llangollen
Hill & Roberts Accountants, Ruthin
The Star Inn, Ruthin
For more information on the extended producer responsibility and why a more Circular economy is important please follow the links below.
https://gov.wales/topics/environmentcountryside/epq/waste_recycling/publication/final-report-options-for-extended-producer-responsibility-in-wales-final-report-executive-summary/?lang=en
http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/Wales_and_the_Circular_Economy_Final_Report.pdf
There are so many benefits of composting! Composting is a vital part of the earth natural life cycle, it turns every day organic matter into fertile rich soil which can be used to grow food and plants.
With the decline of insect numbers and wildlife, compost bins provide a rich habitat and ecosystem for these essential creatures to grow. Composting at home reduces the need for food waste and organic matter to be transported to secondary locations and thus reducing Co2 emissions.
Growing your own food using your own compost is a great way to connect back with nature and enables more seasonal eating. If you can grow your own food then it saves on food being shipped around the world for our consumption, it also reduces the need for the packaging that is produced to ensure safe transport.
A lot of compost that is bought in stores contains peat, moving away from peat-based compost will help safeguard these fragile environments. There has been developments lately in the anti plastic movement to switch some packaging to compostable materials, many of these products can not be processed by our Local Authorities and require them to be composted at home.
Llangollen & District Friends of the Earth have been running a series of free workshops to help promote home composting in the local area.
Workshops have been held in Denbigh, Ruthin, Llangollen, Corwen, Prestatyn, Conwy and Bodfari. If you would be interested in attending a workshop in the future, please get in touch.
Would you, your family or your business like to try an electric cargo bike out around Llangollen?
Llangollen & District Friends of the Earth are considering starting an electric cargo bike hire scheme in Llangollen. These bikes can be used to do your shopping, to carry kids, pets, or make deliveries.
The bike will be electrically assisted, so anyone will be able to conquer the hills of Llangollen! We will aim to make the rental fee very low, only enough to cover maintenance and admin costs.
Electrically assisted cargo bikes and trikes come in various different forms. Some have cargo boxes at the front, others at the back. Some have three wheels, others have two. Here are a collection of images;
We would like to find out whether demand exists for a cargo bike hire scheme. Please use this form to get in touch if you would be interested in taking part;
< Form has now been turned off, if you are interested, please get in touch >
A detailed guide to cargo bikes can be found here: https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/cycling-guide/guide-cargo-bikes