How many people do you speak to on a daily basis?
Imagine if that answer was none… I think you’ll agree, no one deserves for that to be their answer, no one deserves to feel isolated and alone.
Here at Mid Devon Mobility (our charity is on a quest to help minimise the amount of elderly, disabled and vulnerable people in Mid Devon who feel disconnected and isolated from their community – and we need your help!
Our charity unfortunately sees all too how easily and often elderly, less mobile people become confined to their own homes or Care Homes without help, they lack the freedom to get outdoors and explore the world around them. We researched how we may be able to help and this led us to create our latest project… Back around 18 months ago we became Registered Affiliates with the Cycling Without Age programme. Cycling Without Age was Founded in Copenhagen in 2012, to bring generations closer together by sharing experiences by bike and is now in over 1000 Care Homes and in 30 countries worldwide. Becoming registered affiliates means we have been granted the privilege of starting a ‘Chapter’ of Cycling Without Age in Tiverton. The aim is of the project is to build relationships with local care homes and manage and train a band of volunteer cyclists to take elderly people on bike rides out of their homes and back into their communities.
By introducing this scheme into Tiverton we hope to:
- Build stronger communities
- Tackle issues of social isolation amongst the elderly
- Create more engaged and active community.
Through fundraising last year we were able to purchase our first Trio-bike Trishaw, which is fantastic news! The Mayor of Tiverton launched the trishaw at our event in August and it went on its first few journeys and has been really enjoyed by everyone who has been on-board.
