Kendal Cycle Club

  • Iain Childs and Paddy Finn

[lead]The idea of starting a Kendal Cycle Club was formulated by Paddy Finn and Iain Childs on a cycle trip in France. Kendal had a large cycling community but not a strong club scene. They both knew that bringing the cycling community together would give cycling a greater presence and access to more funding. [/lead]

Both Paddy and Iain are British Cycling Level 2 cycle coaches and wanted to use their coaching experience to enable adults and children discover and develop their cycling skills and ability. In order to access funding from British Cycling the coaching and training has to be through a British Cycling affiliated club.  This is main reason that Kendal Cycle Club was formed.

 

[blockquote size=”full” align=”right” byline=”Iain Childs” rating=”0|1|2|3|4|5″] There are cyclists, informal groups and established clubs in Kendal and our aim is to compliment what is on offer. During the Spring of 2015 a group of cyclists came together with the question – shall we form a club?  [/blockquote]

As well as getting more people cycling, the club gives cyclists a voice in cycling related matters within the town. Kendal Cycle Club is part of Kendal Cycle Forum which is a community group representing cycling interests throughout South Lakeland. The group includes Councillors and officers, of Cumbria County Council and South Lakeland District Council and it provides a forum for constructive discussion on cycling matters. Most recently, the Cycle Forum has worked with the Council on spending £2.3 million of Local Government Funding. This money has been allocated to:

  • £763k for schemes to address the junctions which are forecast to become most congested as the town grows. These have been designed using traffic modelling, have plans on display, and are well defined.
  • £1.1m for schemes which have been put forward in the past to encourage walking and cycling, but which up till now have not had any funding. These also have plans on display, but need checking to make sure they are still relevant
  • £375k for schemes to encourage people to leave their cars at home and use other means of travel.