Picture of my playground



Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as Tom Crispin
<[email protected]> gently breathed:
>Sorry we didn't use the school kitchen for the maintenance lesson!
>
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/71476254@N00/120352716/


Wish we'd had stuff like that when I was at school (with or without
h*****s). There was no cycle training at all, I learned from another
lad when I was early teens.

>I and some trainees can also be seen on the Greenwich Cyclists
>website.


>http://www.greenwichcyclists.org.uk/img/cycletraining1.jpg


The second kid behind you seems to have his bike at a rather strange
angle, hope (s)he didn't fall off! That does also look like one of the
few good arguments for h*****s, as they will protect against cuts from
falling onto the tarmac.

How common is cycle training at schools these days? Getting more kids
to ride (and be taught that they need to stop at red lights, etc) is a
great idea, and hopefully in a few years will translate into more
cyclists on the roads. And perhaps then we'll see a sorting-out of
farcilities?

--
- DJ Pyromancer, The Sunday Goth Social, Leeds. <http://www.sheepish.net>

Broadband, Dialup, Domains = <http://www.wytches.net> = The UK's Pagan ISP!
<http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk> <http://www.revival.stormshadow.com>
 
Pyromancer wrote:

> How common is cycle training at schools these days?


IME more common nowadays than it was in "our" time (having read your website
and looked at your taste in music I am assuming you are in your mid 20s to
mid 30s although ICBW) Not being a dad I am unsure when the cycling
proficiency tests started again but I think it was very recently in some
areas perhaps the late 90s...

Our generation do not remember them (apart from maybe primary school) as
they seem to have disappeared from about 1984 onwards (as did cycling to
school) for a variety of reasons.

The teachers' strike meant staff (understandably) withdrew the goodwill
which encouraged teachers to supervise classes in their spare time; the
bobbies got landed with new rules, extra paperwork and an increase in public
disorder meant *they* also didn't have the time to help with the proficiency
tests; and the paranoia over health and safety liabilities/schools getting
sued for out of class activities started.

Also (I lived in Reading at the time) a lady called Angie Lee attended my
secondary school and went on about how you *must* wear these h*lm*ts when
cycling or you will injure yourself etc if you fall off.

She also kept on at our Headmaster, and one day they insisted anyone cycling
to school must produce a h*lm*t and a signed letter from parents and sign
some sort of disclaimer form. (I didn't even own a bike then as my parents
had also read the local paper where Angie Lee was also contributing and
decided from this that cycling was too dangerous for me!)

In 1985 lids were those solid Bell types and the height of uncool - but if
you didn't have one you got in trouble/detentions etc. Shortly afterwards
all the people I know who used to cycle to school stopped, and our bike
sheds ended their days as merely being places to experiment with tobacco and
(later) marijuana smoking. A great improvement to kids' health (not).

Alex
--
Mr R@T / General Lighting
Ipswich, Suffolk, Untied Kingdom
http://www.partyvibe.com
 
On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 21:08:13 +0100, Pyromancer
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as Tom Crispin
><[email protected]> gently breathed:
>>Sorry we didn't use the school kitchen for the maintenance lesson!
>>
>>http://www.flickr.com/photos/71476254@N00/120352716/

>
>Wish we'd had stuff like that when I was at school (with or without
>h*****s). There was no cycle training at all, I learned from another
>lad when I was early teens.
>
>>I and some trainees can also be seen on the Greenwich Cyclists
>>website.

>
>>http://www.greenwichcyclists.org.uk/img/cycletraining1.jpg

>
>The second kid behind you seems to have his bike at a rather strange
>angle, hope (s)he didn't fall off! That does also look like one of the
>few good arguments for h*****s, as they will protect against cuts from
>falling onto the tarmac.


I'm glad you couldn't even identify the gender. I've got some
fantastic photos of children cycling, I just have to be very careful
when putting pictures of children on the Web. So long as their faces
cannot be indentified it's safe. In September I hope to set up a
website - if I have the parents' consent there will not be a problem.

He didn't fall off - his bike is just too small for him. I lent him a
school bike when we went on-road, he should have had a school bike for
playground training too.

>How common is cycle training at schools these days? Getting more kids
>to ride (and be taught that they need to stop at red lights, etc) is a
>great idea, and hopefully in a few years will translate into more
>cyclists on the roads. And perhaps then we'll see a sorting-out of
>farcilities?


It's still uncommon, but gradually becoming more usual.

I've uploaded a picture taken of the bike shed in December. A year
earlier it only ever contained one or two bikes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71476254@N00/120403782/

And there's another couple of photos, on the school website, taken 3
years ago on a 'family cycle ride' I organised.

http://www.johnball.lewisham.sch.uk/community/cycle4.jpg
http://www.johnball.lewisham.sch.uk/community/cycle5.jpg

Note the unhelmeted heads. :)
 
On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 21:44:13 +0100, "Clive George"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>"Tom Crispin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>
>> I've uploaded a picture taken of the bike shed in December. A year
>> earlier it only ever contained one or two bikes.
>>
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/71476254@N00/120403782/

>
>How many of those are teacher's bikes? At a guess, the kirk is at least :)


Three. The Kirk is the Caretaker's, the black peugeot a student
teacher's, and the light blue peugeot, which you can't identify, at
the very very back is also a teacher's (unless that's a Raliegh Raptor
and the teacher's bike is out of shot.) I keep my bike elsewhere.
 
Mr R@t (2.30 zulu-india) wrote:
>
> Our generation do not remember them (apart from maybe primary school) as
> they seem to have disappeared from about 1984 onwards (as did cycling to
> school) for a variety of reasons.
>


ITYM "your generation". My generation did the Cycling Proficiency Test
and if we were lucky got the coveted News of the World "Knight of the
Road" certificate. Youngsters!!

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham
 
Mr R@t (2.30 zulu-india) wrote:
>
> Our generation do not remember them (apart from maybe primary school) as
> they seem to have disappeared from about 1984 onwards (as did cycling to
> school) for a variety of reasons.
>


ITYM "your generation". My generation did the Cycling Proficiency Test
and if we were lucky got the coveted News of the World "Knight of the
Road" certificate. Youngsters!!

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham
 
Pyromancer wrote:

>
> How common is cycle training at schools these days?


In my County there has been a massive fall off in availability. the training
became the responsibility of the County Council and 20 years ago 8,100 went
through the scheme. 15 years ago they were at roughly the same level and set a
target of 10,000 with a 10% increase each year.

At the same time they introduced free Driver Awareness courses aimed at younger
drivers which were promoted through 6th Form Colleges and similar.

By 2003 the LA's press department was proudly lauding the numbers of cyclists
trained - but it was now only 5000.
i do wonder whether the drop was related to an emphasis on Driver Training.

Every day I hear of children who can no longer access cycle training due to a
lack of parent volunteer instructors in the County Scheme. Fewer parents seem
to be coming forward, perhaps because the training course is too onerous - 2
hours on how to fill in the forms, and no, you don't have to be able to ride a
bike. Seriously, its more likely because parents seem to have much more to do
in less time these days.
However, although I'm critical of its limitations, the LA's scheme is better
than nothing.
Training in secondary schools is virtually non-existent.
This is very concerning as many of these schools set rules that say children
can only bring a bike if they have undergone training.

The National Standards are starting to turn this around and providing an
excellent alternative. Not only is training available to all, but it is now
taking the place of the County scheme in some schools where the local authority
has been unable to deliver. It is also flexible in that riders from complete
beginners to adults can be included and is also an excellent activity for
social inclusion projects.

In this area I'm very hopeful the trend will soon be upwards, but more
qualified instructors would be welcome.

John B
 
John B wrote:
> and no, you don't have to be able to ride a bike.


Not much of a problem IME - I was taught to swim by someone who
couldn't, and I learnt to ride a bike in the sole presence of a.n.other
five year old who, despite having been given a bicycle for his birthday,
couldn't (this level of surreptitiousness being necessary due to my
being banned from having a bicycle myself for a further 11 years by the
same person who taught me to swim - your parent detectors should be
firing at this moment).

JimP

--
Let's think the unthinkable, let's do the undoable, let's prepare to
grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after
all. - DNA
 
On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:16:45 +0100, Simon Brooke
<[email protected]> wrote:

>in message <[email protected]>, Tom Crispin
>('[email protected]') wrote:
>
>> I've uploaded a picture taken of the bike shed in December. A year
>> earlier it only ever contained one or two bikes.
>>
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/71476254@N00/120403782/

>
>Wow. That /is/ impressive! Is that a special occasion, or is it that full
>daily?


There were 35 bikes on that day, the average is 25 - 30. I'm hoping
for 50+ in the summer, we should have a second bike shed within 2
months.
 
Tom Crispin wrote:
> Sorry we didn't use the school kitchen for the maintenance lesson!
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/71476254@N00/120352716/
>

Hey Tom, they're not wearing helmets! - a gust of wind might topple
that bike on to them!!, they might trip over the wheel on the
ground!!!, paranoia!, paranoia!, paranoia!......

Well done, keep up the good work etc. - nice to see young kids using
their hands on something other than a Playstation or a mobile 'phone ;)
 
Tom Crispin wrote:

> Three. The Kirk is the Caretaker's


Blimey - a Kirk Precision! Now there's a blast from the (recent) past;
I recall seeing the odd one or two in bike shops as a teenager after
Dawes got the rights to market them nationwide.

David Belcher
 
"David E. Belcher" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Tom Crispin wrote:
>
>> Three. The Kirk is the Caretaker's

>
> Blimey - a Kirk Precision! Now there's a blast from the (recent) past;
> I recall seeing the odd one or two in bike shops as a teenager after
> Dawes got the rights to market them nationwide.


My dad had one of the earlier road ones :)

Stiff as anything - felt completely bombproof. Unfortunately this was mostly
an indication that they'd got the engineering wrong - it was too heavy.

cheers,
clive
 
On 31 Mar 2006 08:06:19 -0800, "David E. Belcher"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>Tom Crispin wrote:
>
>> Three. The Kirk is the Caretaker's

>
>Blimey - a Kirk Precision! Now there's a blast from the (recent) past;
>I recall seeing the odd one or two in bike shops as a teenager after
>Dawes got the rights to market them nationwide.


The owner is a /far/ more experienced cyclist than I will ever be. He
used to do a lot of cyclo-cross in his younger days.
 
Clive George wrote:
> "David E. Belcher" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > Tom Crispin wrote:
> >
> >> Three. The Kirk is the Caretaker's

> >
> > Blimey - a Kirk Precision! Now there's a blast from the (recent) past;
> > I recall seeing the odd one or two in bike shops as a teenager after
> > Dawes got the rights to market them nationwide.

>
> My dad had one of the earlier road ones :)
>
> Stiff as anything - felt completely bombproof. Unfortunately this was mostly
> an indication that they'd got the engineering wrong - it was too heavy.


According to a keen cyclist friend of mine who worked (works still?)
for Hydro, it was produced by Hydro as a demonstration of the
engineering properties of their magnesium casting technology, and when
it was successful spun out into the Kirk Precision company. He owns one
of the road ones too.

They also have a tendency to snap, an indication that even if the
engineering was right, the metallurgy wasn't.

...d
 
Tony Raven wrote:
> Mr R@t (2.30 zulu-india) wrote:
>>
>> Our generation do not remember them (apart from maybe primary
>> school) as they seem to have disappeared from about 1984 onwards (as
>> did cycling to school) for a variety of reasons.
>>

>
> ITYM "your generation". My generation did the Cycling Proficiency
> Test and if we were lucky got the coveted News of the World "Knight
> of the Road" certificate. Youngsters!!


Do you need help clicking that send button, grandad? It looks as if you got
the jitters.

--
Ambrose
 
David E. Belcher wrote:
> Tom Crispin wrote:
>
>> Three. The Kirk is the Caretaker's

>
> Blimey - a Kirk Precision! Now there's a blast from the (recent) past;
> I recall seeing the odd one or two in bike shops as a teenager after
> Dawes got the rights to market them nationwide.


The frames go for about £40 on ebay. It's quite a tempting idea to get one
for an, er, well, some kind of project anyway.
--
Ambrose
 
Ambrose Nankivell wrote:

> Tony Raven wrote:


>> Mr R@t (2.30 zulu-india) wrote:
>>>
>>> Our generation do not remember them (apart from maybe primary
>>> school) as they seem to have disappeared from about 1984 onwards (as
>>> did cycling to school) for a variety of reasons.
>>>

>>
>> ITYM "your generation". My generation did the Cycling Proficiency
>> Test and if we were lucky got the coveted News of the World "Knight
>> of the Road" certificate. Youngsters!!

>
> Do you need help clicking that send button, grandad? It looks as if
> you got the jitters.


nah, thats just the noise of the Creed teletype he is using to send his
posts ;)

Alex

--
Mr R@T / General Lighting
Ipswich, Suffolk, Untied Kingdom
http://www.partyvibe.com