Schools Minister gets on his bike

Children, Schools and Families Minister, Kevin Brennan MP today visited my kids’ school on the first day of Bike to School Week.

St. Catherine’s RC Primary School of Newcastle upon Tyne has just 240 pupils but up to 30 kids attend my Go Ride and unicycling clubs. And St Cat’s is the first location outside of America to have been provided with cycle parking hoops by Kryptonite.


Mr Brennan opened this new cycle parking facility and then watched pupils getting cycle training for riding on roads - Bikeability training - as well as racing, Go Ride coaching. He also met teachers who have bought bicycles on the Government’s Cycle to Work salary sacrifice scheme. The visit was rounded off with a demonstration of unicycling by the school’s one wheeled wonders. I could be mistaken but I don’t know of any other primary school in the country to have a unicycling club.

Here are a bunch of pix from today (see, the sun shines on the righteous):

Bikeability bike checking:


Bikeability training by Cycling Solutions Ltd.:


Press photographers getting unicycling shots:


Unicycling flicks:


Kevin Brennan MP has a go on British Cycling’s Go Ride cycle coaching course:


British Cycling’s Go Ride regional manager Jon Bateman explains Go Ride to the Minister:


The full Flickr set can be found here. There was one shot I didn’t get: the Minister on a unicycle. The local press photographers got the shot, but I was propping up Mr Brennan at the time and didn’t feel it appropriate - or safe - to let go and grab my camera.