The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Trio of trishaws ready to roll out in Carnoustie
OPEN: Legacy fund helps to bring Cycling Without Age to Angus town
The legacy of Carnoustie’s historymaking 2018 Open Championship is set to roll on in an innovative new community first for Angus.
A trio of trishaws have arrived in the town and will soon be piloted by volunteers in the latest expansion of Cycling Without Age.
The initiative founded in Copenhagen now has a global reach in its ambition to bring benefit to the elderly and less able by reintroducing them to cycling in their local community.
The Carnoustie project has been driven by Lorraine Young, chairwoman of Carnoustie Memories, and Carnoustie Befrienders chairwoman Jean Brown.
A Montrose residential home has one of the trishaws, but the Carnoustie set-up is the first community-based CWA group in Angus.
Lorraine said: “CWA is a wellestablished national programme and our chapter is designed to reflect the national model. Our direct association with CWA offers us many positive benefits such as training for all our pilots, human resource services and insurance.”
The project gathered pace thanks to the legacy fund set up in the wake of the 147th Open Championship over the world-famous Angus links with an application for support being successful.
She added: “We believed Cycling Without Age would be of tremendous benefit to a significant number of people living in the local community and would be a very positive and highly visible reminder of the community benefits arising from the hosting of the Open Championship.
“We have been overwhelmed by the total support and encouragement we have received from Cycling Without Age Scotland with whom we are now formally affiliated.
“CWA brought a trishaw to Carnoustie for us to trial and the passengers had a ball and smiled their way through the journey and spoke of the exhilarating experience of feeling ‘the wind in their hair’ and the wealth of memories this evoked.”
She added: “Our sole objective is to transform the lives of older people in our community, re-engaging them with
“CWA brought a trishaw to Carnoustie and the passengers had a ball
the outdoor environment through openair trips on trishaws with local volunteer pilots.
“We require a pool of volunteers to cover a range of tasks from being a pilot, a co-pilot or a co-passenger and would welcome inquiries from members of the public interested in volunteering.”
Contact can be made by emailing lyoung37@btinternet.com or jmbrown77@sky.com
The trishaws have now arrived in town and, in a fitting nod to the golfing legacy, will be named after the town’s three courses – Championship, Burnside and Buddon – alongside an outrider e-bike called the Nestie after the town’s pitch and putt course.