Care home residents head out for a cycle around Glasgow

Care home residents in Glasgow geared up for a fun day out in Glasgow Green where they were given the opportunity to go for a bike ride.

Sunny Cycles, an organisation that encourages people to appreciate and take up the activity, invited five care homes to Glasgow’s east end.

The organisation secured funding from the Cycling UK Share Fund which allowed them to purchase accessibility friendly bikes.

Bikes were adapted to having two sets of pedals or to put a wheelchair on the front.

Ten members of staff and six residents across the homes took part in the cycle with one staff member riding a bike for her first time.

Carol Thompson, who organised the event, said: “The impact that this has had on the residents and the staff is just amazing.

“They absolutely loved it and it was an experience that they didn’t think they would be able to take part in.”

Sunny Cycles aims to create a community where everyone has an opportunity to take up cycling, regardless of their ability.

It argues cycling is an effective activity to boost mental and physical wellbeing as well as offering a way to reduce loneliness.

Gwilym Machin, a Sunny Cycle volunteer, said: “It’s good for me and my mental health, suffering from anxiety it gets me out the house to see people involved.”

The event aimed to allow for residents to go out and socialise whilst getting involved in an outdoor physical activity.

Nick McLean, home manager of Florence House in Govan, said: “This is what it is all about, it’s about participation and inclusion and it’s everything we want to be doing.

“It’s fantastic, Sunny Cycles is brilliant and we have a good working partnership with it.

“The two individuals we brought absolutely loved it. They were able to get about in the park and meet friends they haven’t seen in a long time which was a great outcome for them.”

Francis, home manager of Oakbridge Care Home, said: “We had a woman who was 99 years old who loved it. She loved her experience and was on the side-by-side bike and was pedalling away.

“Cycling around the local area, she was telling us all about when she brought her kids to Govan and the Barras and when she went dancing in the Barrowlands.

“She was pedalling so fast she lost her shoe briefly so her new nickname is Cinderella.”

Oakbridge Care Home resident Jenny was at the event and said before these events she had not been on a bike since she was 16.

She said the ride was “the bee’s knees” and her and her friends “couldn’t stop laughing”.

Her carer said that she suffers from dementia but remembers her time on the bike and talks about it constantly.

Tommy, who was at Glasgow Green, bumped into a long-time friend although he was adamant he could have done a better job pedalling than his carer.

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