By Elizabeth Hunter via SWNS
A town is helping its old and needy get out and about – by cycling them around in ‘trishaw’ bikes.
Elderly residents in Auchterarder in Scotland are given day trips and fresh air in the pedaled three-wheelers with a front seated carriage.
Volunteers take people from care homes for rides to tourist attractions and beauty spots as part of the scheme Cycling Without Age Scotland.
Gordon Macleay, 60, began leading the Auchterarder program a year ago.
Their scheme is dedicated to mom-of-two Rowen Ross who played a major role in the project and sadly died last October aged just 54.
Gordon said: “When residents want to go on rides, we ensure they’re safely secured into the seats at the front, which can take two residents at a time.
“We take them around different parts of the town – at the moment we’re taking them around our new housing estate, which gets lovely views across the mountains when the weather’s good.
“Feedback has been really positive.
”Even on the first day we took people out when they came back, they were really keen to tell the other residents how much fun they’d had being out.”
Gordon works alongside eleven other volunteers, with four more set to undergo training in the coming weeks.
Training is provided by charity Cycling Without Age Scotland, with volunteers learning to work in pairs to maneuver and monitor the trishaw.
Residents of local care homes are taken out in pairs for 20-30-minute trips to various landmarks in town.
Gordon said: ””The residents have loved it and made sure that we knew they had positive feedback about it, but we probably get as much out of it as they do.
“The tagline for Cycling Without Age Scotland is ‘miles of smiles’ – and that’s definitely true.
“We’ve really enjoyed the whole process. Seeing the residents getting outside and getting some fresh air really lifts our spirits too.”
