Angus Cycle Hub passed another important early milestone with the official opening of its new community cycle workshop and hub.
The Guthrie Port facility in Arbroath also staged the premiere of a new cycling promotion film for the district as efforts gather pace to encourage people to get in the saddle.
The new workshop has been formed through a partnership with Voluntary Action Angus and Angus Council and is being funded through the NHS Tayside Community Innovation Fund.
The hub’s aims are to reduce the barriers which currently get in the way of people starting to cycle and continuing with it by increasing cycling skills and confidence through affordable cycling workshops and maintenance classes.
Another key objective is the provision of training and events, including the Angus Cycling Festival, which this year built on the runaway success of the inaugural event in centred around Forfar’s Reid Park 12 months earlier.
Angus Cycle Hub director Scott Francis said: “We hope to support the development of a pathway for local people to start cycling as a means to better health and well-being as well as helping reduce carbon emissions in Angus by encouraging cycling as an alternative to short car journeys.”
This year the project has run 45 initiatives and catered for over 1700 participants.
Between them they have cycled over 22,000 kilometres – equating to a C02 saving in excess of 4,880kg as a result.
The Hub also recently started a bike recycling project for the Angus area in association with Angus Council.
Through the scheme it is refurbishing donated and salvaged bikes from the local authority’s recycling centres and offering them for resale as an affordable means of entry to cycling.
Mr Francis added: “We are slowly building a small team of passionate volunteers and are supporting a number of people in the community to learn new skills.
“We are also just about to run a VeloTech maintenance award which will give some of our helpers an industry-recognised qualification in bike maintenance.”
The new promotion film has been created with Glen Thomson Films as a showcase of the cycling and mountain biking opportunities across the district.
“We wanted to get as many of our fantastic volunteers and supporters together as possible as a get together to celebrate everything that has been achieved this year,” added Mr Francis.