With recent accolades including the South Wales Social Enterprise of the Year, Cycle Training Wales is all about getting people on their bikes! With projects including ‘Doctor Bike’, cycle proficiency training in schools, and a mobile mountain bike trail, there are plenty of health, training and environmental benefits to its work. With recycling at the heart of this work, Cycle Training Wales teaches people to be thrifty by maintaining their old bikes instead of buying anew.
As a growing social business Cycle Training Wales has been creating a new training suite, the first of its kind in Wales. Open six days a week, this facility will mean formal training, workshops, recycling and volunteering can be increased. A £20,000 Santander Social Enterprise Development Award paid for: workshop stations in the suite; an advertising campaign; and the costs of a business development/outreach worker to provide cycle training courses in schools in Swansea and Carmarthenshire.
“This enterprise award has meant investment at the heart of our business – we’ve been able to meet
demand for our schools cycling proficiency training, buy new kit, increase recycling and
re-use, employ a new member of staff and help – and be helped by – more volunteers. There’s such a
resurgence of interest in cycling, and its contribution to the economy and the environment is growing:
every year we see more people getting new qualifications, jobs in this sector growing, and people
switching from car to bike to get to work: in Cardiff alone, according to the Office of National Statistics,
there’s been a 65% increase in the number of people cycling to work.”
Andrew Burns
Development Manager, Cycle Training Wales
