Appleby Town Council were delighted to work in partnership with Rich Scoffham, Westmorland & Furness Council’s Community Development Officer, to put on a fun packed free event for the last weekend of the school holidays, with a pop-up pump track at Broad Close on Saturday and Sunday. Over 200 young people took part in the event over the two days, with children as young as 3 years old having a go around the circuit.
The pump track was provided by the Dirt Factory, a Manchester based company and was expertly supervised by their instructors Dan and Lucy. Their ethos is that by having fun on your bike, you will improve your skills, health, well-being and confidence, and are more likely to cycle more often. A big thank you goes to PCSOs Mark, Joel and Tony, who provided free bicycle security marking and Henrietta at the Bike Inn, based at Appleby Heritage Centre, who provided some free cycle repairs. Thanks also to VolkerStevin, the contractors for Appleby’s flood defence scheme, who allowed us to use part of their compound to locate the pump track on.
Funding for the event came from Westmorland & Furness Council’s Place Action Group. Councillor Andy Connell said “I am delighted that Westmorland & Furness Councill were able to support this event, which brought a new experience to Appleby’s youngsters. It was great to see so many young people having fun around the track and it would be great if we could see a permanent pump track in Appleby.”
As part of the event, the Council has published a short survey to gather feedback on whether residents would like to have a permanent pump track in Appleby. Nearly 200 people have already completed the survey, but it will remain open for a couple of weeks and can be accessed online at https://forms.gle/D7n1U3nMerHS8GUc6
Anyone interested in being involved in a working group to look at the feasibility of getting a permanent pump track in Appleby, please contact Appleby Town Council at clerk@applebytown.gov.uk or pop into the Tourist Information Centre.
