Sale police donate bikes to the community (From Messenger Newspapers)

Sale police donate bikes to the community

9:00am Friday 12th October 2012 in News By Kate Banks, Reporter

SALE Neighbourhood Police Team (NPT) has teamed up with Sale West and Ashton Partnership (SWAP) to help people in the community gain access to bikes.

Last week Sale NPT officers handed over seven bikes from its store of unclaimed and abandoned bicycles to SWAP members at Manor High School, Sale.

SWAP has a number of key agencies, including Sale NPT, which work together with the aim to improve the community and help it thrive.

Sale NPT Ins, Laura Burgess said: “The local Neighbourhood Team is very much a part of the Sale West and Ashton Partnership, and we have great links with the community and their groups.

“This will help many more children access bikes and enjoy time cycling."

‘The Bike Pod’ project aims to give people, especially those who cannot or are too young to drive, access to bikes as a mode of transport, enhance people’s health and wellbeing and to teach people who already have bikes about how to maintain them.

“This is an excellent example of partnership working,” said Marie Price, Health Improvement Officer at NHS Trafford.

“It means that children will be able join their parents for family cycle rides and enjoy the wellbeing benefits of cycling.

Partnership chair, Ralph Rudden, said the donated bikes will enhance employment opportunities for people in Sale and Ashton-on-Mersey as well as improving community health.

He added: “The police have put the last piece in the jigsaw for the bike project, and Laura and her team have been so helpful.”