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20 April, 2023

Grant amount: £20,000

Pedall New Forest Inclusive Cycling

  • Grant programme: Positive Futures
  • Region: South East

Towards the costs of outreach to maximise the numbers of young people with a disability or other barriers to outdoor physical exercise who benefit from guided cycling in New Forest National Park

About the organisation

PEDALL New Forest Inclusive cycling is a well-established health and wellbeing project that helps everyone, no matter what their need, to cycling in the beautiful New Forest National Park. All rides are led by qualified, experienced staff and volunteers using an extensive range of 2 wheeled and specialist cycles on off-road cycle tracks.

PEDALL aims to help people improve their physical and mental health and tackle isolation by enabling them to enjoy the freedom of cycling and reconnecting with nature.

About the project

PEDALL Community Hub, Ashurst

PEDALL launched it’s second base in the New Forest in 2023. The grant from PHF enabled PEDALL to promote inclusive cycling to a new community of riders (through our ‘group’ eg. Schools, charities, and ‘open’ rides ie. Individuals and families) (446 riders to date) and to roll out and promote new services, including a weekly free drop-in bike maintenance service and ‘Bike maintenance skills training’ for young people with learning disability. The Community Hub has proven to be a popular and practical space for us to train our team of 50+ volunteers.

Impact of PHF’s support

Our second base at Ashurst launched services in 2023 and results to date include:

 

Activity 2023 2024 to date
Inclusive ‘Group Guided’ riders 127 161
Inclusive ‘Open Guided’ riders 90 25
Social riders 30 13
Community drop in repairs 48 10
Skills training for young people with additional needs (attendees) 10
Volunteers maintenance / training session (attendees) 200 40

 

The grant supported a much needed upgrade to our on-line booking system, which now enables people to select the bike of their choice when booking. Our van has also be rebranded to better represent our project. A portion of our grant has enabled us to offer a free block of 6 group rides (up to 10 riders), encouraging new groups to join us at Ashurst. We have been delighted to welcome Totton College (SEN department), Clay Hill School (autism specialist), Demetia Hub Totton, Headway (brain injury charity) through this incentive.

The grant enabled us to train 10 students free of charge, from Coxlease School (SEMH) and Brockenhurst College (SEN). We have further training scheduled in the Autum term.

How does your organisation exemplify PHF’s values?

PEDALL directly enhances the lives of children and young people who are physically, mentally, or socially disadvantaged. Our specialist cycles remove the barriers to accessing nature and exercise and our experienced, empathetic team offer support and the opportunity that would not otherwise be available. We are passionate about enabling everyone, no matter what barrier they may face, to access the beautiful New Forest National Park. We work with families, schools, colleges, residential homes and charities that support the most disadvantaged in the New Forest and surrounding areas. Thank you to Peter Harrison Foundation for enabling us to expand our services, reach new people and more impactfully promote our project.