Elderly given freedom to feel the wind in their hair as cycle scheme spans Scotland
● Cycling Without Age expanded with £300,000 grant
It has transformed the lives of care home residents in Falkirk and is now to be extended across Scotland.
A Danish-inspired scheme to get elderly people out and about on three-wheeled electric trishaws has received £300,000 of Scottish Government funding to be launched in eight other areas.
Footage of volunteer “pilot” Fraser Johnston taking the elderly on bike rides last year became an internet hit, notching up 28 million views.
Mr Johnston won a 2017 Pride of Britain Award for his work on the Cycling Without Age (CWA) scheme with the Falkirk-based Communities Along the Carron Association.
The project, which was pioneered in Copenhagen in 2012, aims to help socially-isolated older people meet others and be physically active.
The new funding will see it expanded to East Lothian, Falkirk, the Highlands and Islands, Perth and Kinross, and the Borders this year.
These will be followed by further projects in Fife, South Ayrshire and West Lothian.
CWA Scotland executive officer Christine Bell said: “The act of two passengers sharing a trishaw, along with the volunteer pilots, creates new relationships and friendships, which has proven to be one of the most valuable aspects of this project.
“Elderly people are brought back into community life, stories are shared, and health and wellbeing improves for everyone involved.”
Care home resident Mary Duncan, 90, who was among the first to use the Falkirk scheme, said: “When I started going out it was marvellous – miraculous to just go on a bike.
“It was such a change to get out of the four walls.
“I really enjoy it – the fresh air and the wind in your hair. It’s just amazing.”
Fellow resident Jim Taylor, 96, who is unable to walk, said: “It eases the boredom quite a bit and there is a sense of freedom being out in the fresh air.”
Trishaw pilot Mr Johnston said: “You can see the positive impact it’s having on them. They have got the countryside around them and they actually create new memories, and that then stimulates a lot of conversations they would never have if they were sitting in the care home.
“It’s great for the volunteers – they have that one-hour adrenalin rush of sharing stories, and the memories they create with the passengers, and they are just desperate to get out again.”
Kirsty Peebles, spokeswoman for CWA in Peebles, which is launching in July, said: “There are a lot of elderly people living independently who we are equally keen to reach.
“We will make use of the fantastic network of paths in Tweeddale.”
Public health minister aileen Campbell, who announced the funding, said: “CWA started with the simple aim of helping older people feel the wind in their hair again.
“Through the committed action of a few volunteers, the project was brought to Scotland and has made a positive difference to many people’s lives.
“Through this funding, CWA will work with communities and partners to roll the project out across Scotland in the areas and settings where it will have the most impact.
“We know that physical activity and regular social interaction have huge benefits for both mental and physical well-being and help people in Scotland live longer, healthier lives.”
“They create new memories that then stimulates conversations they would never have if they were sitting in the care home” FRASER JOHNSTON
Poor old WH Smith. For the eighth consecutive year, the stalwart of high streets, railway stations and airport terminals the nation over has been shamed by shoppers who have named it one of Britain’s worst retailers.
In a survey of more than 10,000 people by the consumer watchdog, Which?, the chain came bottom of the pile, and was roundly chastised by those who believe its glory years are well behind it.
Those polled singled out its poor customer service, high prices and substandard stores. As one customer put it, the WH Smith of 2018 is “hugely inferior to what it was in the past”. For a onceubiquitous retailer, the findings represent yet another fall from grace, and WH Smith has not had its troubles to seek of late.
It endured a backlash for overcharging customers for toothpastes and other toiletries in its hospital shops. Only last month, it posted a drop in its half-year pretax profits, with a 6 per cent slump in its high street earnings, down to £50 million.
It is all a far cry from its halcyon days two decades ago. Back then, I landed a job working at its Greenock branch as I was going through university; in the pantheon of poorly paid weekend work for struggling undergraduates, I thought I had struck gold.
The position allowed me to cadge as many free newspapers as I wished, and offered the opportunity to play Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti at full volume in the upstairs record bar, much to the disapproval of my colleagues. When you are 18, these things matter.
Behind the scenes, the chain, established in 1792, was in rude health. In 1998, the year I began working there, it had pocketed £435m by selling off its interests in Waterstones and Virgin Our Price, money it used to acquire John Menzies, until then one of its main competitors in Scotland.
By the year’s end, its retail division had generated revenues of £1.1 billion, a figure which almost doubled once its news distribution operation was taken into account. Together, they helped the company post a record profit of £101m.
The future seemed bright. At the time, WH Smith was selling 35 million books in the UK every year. But 1998 also marked the UK launch of a little-known online retailer by the name of Amazon. The wheels for a gradual and inglorious demise were set in motion.
Nowadays, it is easy to empathise with the punters who took part in the Which? survey. Visiting a WH Smith store feels like entering a portal to the past. Its shops are dimly lit, and the layout is both confusing and inconsistent. It has a reasonable range of stock, but it feels very much like a jack of all trades, one which lacks the choice and affordability of its competitors.
It is little wonder that @WHS_ Carpet, a spoof Twitter account in operation since 2013, has attracted nearly 19,000 followers thanks to its scathing snapshots of dubious in-store promotions. Its recent photographs show one shop selling chocolate Easter bunnies and halfprice chocolate Santas side by side, as well as a row of self-service tills, all of which are displaying error messages.
There is no straightforward route to recovery for WH Smith, which continues to serve 12 million customers a week, although its latest plan, which will see it renew its focus on stationery, seems like a sensible step. Yet perhaps the
most obvious starting point for the firm’s executives would be to look at the Which? survey. Granted, it may make for painful reading, but it could also offer an instructive hint or two. Predictably, the top ten rated shops include longstanding favourites like Ikea and John Lewis, but looking elsewhere, the inclusion of other, less well-known, retailers proves telling.
In joint first place, for instance, is Savers. The Durham-founded chain specialises in discounted health, beauty, and homeware products. Compared to the likes of Boots, its physical stores cut a homespun presence, with shelves stacked high and precious few frills or thrills.
While there was a time – think 1998, for example – when such unsophisticated retailers went unheralded, their almost utilitarian purpose is now firmly in vogue. There is no fiendishly clever strategy at play. Shoppers simply want recognisable brand names at cheap prices, and rather than paying a few pounds extra in big name chains, they are voting with their feet.
The same is true of at least four other entries in the top ten. Take Bodycare, which also takes pride in its discount retailer status. Its genesis can be traced back to a market stall in Skelmersdale. Now, it has more than 130 stores with a turnover of more than £130m.
Or there is The Perfume Shop, which eschews the pampering and one-to-one service of major outlets like House of Fraser. Instead, its fragrances are kept behind a counter. Do the punters care? Seemingly not, especially if they can save a bob or two on their favourite scent.
Two other entries in the top ten – Screwfix and Toolstation – may offer a completely different range of goods, but they adopt a similar approach to the budget beauty shops by undercutting major DIY outlets when it comes to tools, accessories, and hardware.
There are lessons here for WH Smith. It is no longer the nation’s newsagent, and its days as the go-to place for a newly published novel are in the past. But if it can focus on what it does best, there is a chance it can at least cast off the shackles of being named Britain’s worst shop.