Award-winning charity Sport Aberdeen is ecstatic to successfully secure £10,000 of funding from Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership (ACHSCP)’s Health Improvement Fund.

The Health Improvement Fund supports initiatives that improve health and wellbeing for people across Aberdeen – Sport Aberdeen used the funding to purchase an electrically assisted Trishaw from Cycling Without Age Scotland.   

An exciting new project for the Aberdeen area – Cycling Without Age Scotland gives individuals with limited mobility the opportunity to experience the joy of cycling in their later years through excursions on a Trishaw.

Electrically assisted Trishaws, with two seats between their two front wheels, enable a ‘pilot’ to take two people for excursions at any one time.

Working alongside Cycling Without Age Scotland, Sport Aberdeen has a growing group of volunteer ‘pilots’ ready to take Trishaw passengers out to experience the great outdoors and local sightseeing, feel the wind in their hair and enjoy the social interaction of the rides. After a successful launch event on Friday 19 August at Get active @ Westburn, Sport Aberdeen is looking to initially work with local partners including social care charity Inspire and residential care home VSA’s Crosby House – both organisations having expressed a keen interest in Trishaw rides for their service users.

Andrinne Craig, Healthy Communities Manager, said: “This is a fantastic project to be part of and we are so excited to have the first electrically assisted Trishaw in Aberdeen.

“A huge thanks to ACHSCP for the funding so that we could make this project come to life and a massive thanks to Cycling Without Age Scotland for its ongoing support and knowledge in helping us to train our volunteer ‘pilots’.

“Also, a big thanks to our volunteers… for giving up their time to play a vital role in transforming the lives of future Trishaw passengers, enabling them to be immersed in a new outdoor experience and come back with rosy cheeks and full of stories.

“We want to spread the joy and hope to work with other local partners and organisations who are interested and see the potential.”

Chris Smillie, Public Health Coordinator (Central) at Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “Aberdeen City Health & Social Care Partnership’s Health Improvement Fund aims to support new initiatives that will help improve health and wellbeing in communities across the city. 

“We know that regular physical activity and social interaction can be hugely beneficial for people’s mental and physical wellbeing which is why Sport Aberdeen’s new Cycling Without Age scheme is such a great idea and one that is sure to be very popular.”

Christine Bell, Chief Executive Officer of Cycling Without Age Scotland, said: “This is a momentous and really exciting day for us as this is the first development outside central Scotland of Cycling Without Age Scotland’s “Trishaw in Iconic Places” programme: a great service now being offered in iconic places in an iconic city by an amazing group of people.

“We’ve been so impressed by the enthusiastic and energetic commitment of everyone at Sport Aberdeen to making a really positive difference in their community. We’ve been especially impressed by the breadth of their vision – the way that they seek every opportunity to offer this very special service to as many people as possible in a flexible, imaginative and completely inclusive way. They’ve wholeheartedly embraced the ethos of Cycling Without Age which has made it so valued and successful across the world – and they’ve been a dream to work with.

“It’s not just the passengers of course who will benefit! The volunteer Trishaw pilots and all other volunteers will have a truly fulfilling time as they enrich and enhance lives and make terrific new friendships.

“Everything we’ve seen in the development of this project by Sport Aberdeen makes us absolutely certain that it will be a great success.”