It’s that time of year when we reflect on the past and look forward to the future. Last year was a challenging year for most of us. We have been unable to deliver most of our face-to-face activities and instead had to move many activities on-line.
We held a number of challenges during year to encourage people to be more active; an ABC challenge – people taking a photo that represented each letter of the alphabet over 26 days; activity and climate change bingo in the summer and in the lead up to COP 26 and an autumn challenge nearer the end of the year. The Trinity hybrid and electric bikes were loaned to staff and key workers. This proved very beneficial to employees who were especially nervous about using public transport. We received lots of positive feedback on our bikes and some even went on to purchase their own bike!
In May, once again we co-hosted an online Ayrshire Women’s Cycle festival along with our friends at the Ayr and Kilmarnock Active Travel Hubs. Women from all over the world and from all walks of life joined us over the 3-day festival. In partnership with Police Scotland, we ran a security bike marking event in Bridgegate. Several new cycle ride leaders and walk leaders were trained and some also received first aid training. We have supported volunteers on Arran, in Kilwinning and in the Garnock Valley to set up new health walk groups so we now have ‘Stroll with It’ walks in four areas of North Ayrshire.
Four new walking routes were researched and added to the Places that we Know App – Trails | Places That We Know . Other walking routes were researched for Kilwinning and the Garnock Valley; new cycle maps for Garnock Valley, North Coast and the Islands were produced and all these should be printed in the next few months. We also have a brand-new Trinity information leaflet available. For those interested in the Trinity building a display about its history has been installed. Our Facebook following has grown steadily and we ended the year with 340 regular followers, check us out on The Trinity Active Travel Hub | Facebook
We have great plans for 2022 with a new walks programme for Irvine, our partners continuing their walks in Arran, Garnock Valley, Kilwinning and in January another group is all set to get walking in the Three Towns. We have a number of bike maintenance classes in the pipeline and will be organising some cycle ride leader and volunteer walk leader training too. We will be taking part in 2022 Scotland’s Year of Stories – by inviting the public to explore North Ayrshire’s stories on camera. Plans are underway to run both the women’s cycle festival and later in the year a walking festival. If you would be interested in volunteering with the Trinity Active Travel Hub as a walk or cycle ride leader; to help us out at events or with our other activities, we would love to hear from you. Full training and copious cups of tea/coffee will be provided. If you are interested and would like to have a chat with one of us about volunteering contact us at thetrinity@north-ayrshire.gov.uk
We are really looking forward to getting back to our activities and meeting you face to face we hope you will be able to join us!