Summer 2017 Bikeability courses

*Update* The Bikeability sessions will take place at Cpl Budd VC Gymnasium off Berechurch Road. Please email saferessexroads@essexhighways.org to book a place. Please don’t complete the form below! Thanks.

Colchester Travel Plan Club in partnership with Cycle Colchester and Safer Essex Roads Partnership are offering Bikeability sessions again this summer. We are still firming up the venue but are taking expressions of interest for Learn to Ride and Bikeability combined levels 1 & 2. There will be a £10 charge per participant.

Learn to Ride is aimed at anyone from 5 years upwards who isn’t able to cycle. The 45 minute session is a great confidence booster and the instructors usually get the participant cycling on two wheels by the end!

Combined levels 1 & 2 Bikeability is for children from 9 years old to adults, who want to improve their confidence to start cycling on quiet roads. The 8 hour course (over 2 days, 4 hours each day) covers road positioning, communication with other road users, recognising hazards and passing parked vehicles/side roads.

It is highly recommended that parents undertake Bikeability training too, so that you are aware of the good practice your children have been taught and can reinforce it when out cycling with them – you will also be surprised at how much it teaches you and how aware you become of the bad habits you may have got into!!

Either ourselves or Safer Essex Roads Partnership will be in touch soon to confirm the venue and send you the actual booking form.

Appeal for cyclist witnesses

Most of Colchester’s residents will be aware by now of the shocking murder of Nahid Almanea, the Essex Uni student on the Salary Brook trail last week.

The police are currently looking for two cyclists who were seen in the area at the time. Here is a link to the Police’s call to the cyclists to come forward. Please get in contact with the police if you can help with identifying these cyclists as any piece of information could be crucial.

If you are an Essex University student or know someone who is, make sure to check your student emails and the Uni intranet for information about alternative travel arrangements that could help you feel safer, particularly from Greenstead and The Quays.

NQE Business Awards Winners

The Friday just gone we were up at Charter Hall attending the NQE Business Awards- it was an evening celebrating success and great businesses that everyone enjoyed thoroughly.

As judges of the Environmental Awareness category, we were particularly proud to announce our three very worthy winners:

•   In the small and medium company category Partnership Events and Tollgate Clinic have impressed us with their dedication and relentless efforts to make a positive contribution to the environment
•    In the large company category Colchester 6^th Form College won the prize this year! Their judge was Simon from Zero Above since the Travel Plan Club team was already well aware of their brilliant work as a member of CTPC and wanted to remain impartial.

We would like to say congratulations to all the winners and very well done! Also, we recognize the hard work of all the finalists and feel honoured they entered our category- it was a real pleasure to meet everybody!

A full blog on the subject will be on the website soon- with pictures as well- so make sure to come back and read it.

Belated CTPC write up

Re-cycle inundated with customers at freshers fair.

A much belated write up about the last Travel Plan Club meeting held at the University on the 6 September. 

The CTPC has been very busy particularly helping the University and Colchester Institute with their freshers fairs plus undertaking lots of travel surveys for our various members.

Things have moved on since the meeting, so just a quick recap and update on a few key points…

Replacing Andrew: Claudia started today and David will start next week! We have successfully recruited two interns who will work  with us until March 2013.  We look forward to working with them and will introduce them to you soon. 

Key projects:

ECC accreditation:

We are keen to help our members achieve ECC accreditation.  Several of you are aiming for silver and a couple for gold. The main challenge is the survey response rate, so this year surveys will be bespoke to each organisation as a new approach to encourage more participation.  The deadline for completing surveys was this week, and Colchester Institute, CHUFT and CBC’s are complete with the Uni’s ending this week. More on survey results in a future blog!

Cycling Promotion:

Emily is now a trained ride leader so could lead rides from your organisation if this is something you want to set up.

£300 funding is available for a See Me campaign, highlighting the need and legal requirement to use lights at night and to wear high viz clothing. Due to  resource constraints this has only been pursued at the Uni this year with two very successful ‘See Me’ twilight rides.  Let’s put this in the programme for next year and do something Travel Plan Club wide.

We also still have £2k funding for our own in house Cycle Challenge, Charlotte thinks the Uni might be able to help with this project – perhaps as a student project.. one to pursue for next spring.

Cycle Colchester E- Newsletters are going out each month, the aim is to show that cycling isn’t just for summer and that activities take place throughout the year.

Loveurcarcolchester

There is still funding for CTPC bespoke promotions. Events have already taken place at the University where we promoted their car share scheme and used an eco driving simulator to raise awareness of fuel efficient driving, we did the same at CHUFT, however there we were launching their new car share scheme offering dedicated parking bays.  We aim to hold events in seven different organisations – so what can we do for you to promote car sharing and fuel efficient driving?

The Autumn campaign starts soon, and will highlight how Purdy’s savings have paid for her Christmas shop. We need the CTPC’s support to promote this campaign.

Forward planning/promotional events

We want to help you with anything you would like to promote over the coming months. Public Transport is one area that we haven’t promoted heavily. Please give us your ideas.

We are sponsoring the Active and Sustainable Travel NQE business awards this year, thanks to those members who have entered and good luck.

The temporary bus station in Queen Street will be closing on 17 November 2012 and the new bus station in Osborne Street opening 18 November. CBC will provide us with information shortly that we can share with our organisations.

 We haven’t yet set a date for the next meeting but will do soon. It will probably be in January 2013.