Green Streets is here to stay!

West Bridgford saw hundreds of people on foot or on the bike for this month's Green Streets launch.

One 16 year old West Bridgfordian, Michael Wells, took Green Streets a little further by making a 3 week track to Island Peak in Nepal, 6500 metres above sea level , going even higher than the Everest base camp to show off his Green Streets T-shirt and to shout from the top of the world, that Green Streets is here to stay!

One small step can become a journey..

Eleanor's friend aged 11 lives at the top of Musters Rd (near cricket ground) and has never walked to school alone before. Parental commitments meant they usually had to travel by car. On Green Streets Friday she and her younger brother were determined to walk to school but neither parent was available so for the first time they walked alone. It went so well they've now decided to do it regularly!

It all started on Melton Road...

At 8.15 all was spookingly quiet in Melton Road with a fairly strong wind blowing. Was this the quiet before the storm...?

On arrival the only people I saw were the 3 police officers. They must have wondered what all the fuss was about. Then, all of a sudden there was movement. Lesley from Celebration was busy putting up bunches of green latex balloon to cheer up the street all the way along the shops.

Out of no where cycled Natasha and her friend, dressed in Green and with their badges showing, asking if they could help. No sooner had they asked and children and their parents started coming from all directions. Within 5 minutes we handed out the 50 goodie bags donated by The Big Wheel and Lauren was selling badges if there was not tomorrow. The Green Fairies arrived and the party could start.

Councillor Khan and his wife came to open the event then the Fairies, school children and some of the parents of the local school walked with the police along the streets to arrive in time for lessons. All this before 9am... what an excitement so early in the morning! After that some of the adults ended up in Taste on Clumber Road to enjoy a wonderful cup of coffee courtesy of Mark and Andrea. Seeing all these people walk in wearing something green was such a lovely sight.

Well as hoped, West Bridgford was seeing green yesterday. Hundreds of children and their parents walked to school and wore something green. Some parents even walked into Nottingham to get to work or did some shopping, some took the bus or cycled. It was wonderful to see that so many people made a special effort to make the Green Streets Launch a success. All the ladies in the library were wearing green and welcomed visitors to the talks and served refreshments and biscuits.

Even the window in the Cancer Research Shop was dressed up in Green. They apparently had to change the window numerous times as people kept on wanting to buy something green! Not sure if it had anything to do with green streets, but at least they sold well that day. Most of the activities were taken up by small group of between 3 and 30 people.

Cycling with Malcolm and Margaret, talks in the library, walks on the green line, having the bikes checked by Dr Bike to name but a few. I would like to thank all of you who made an effort to make this launch fun and exciting.

The Daring Dozen - Bike ride with Malcolm and Margaret

Setting off from just outside the Co-op we were a motley crew. The dozen dare devils ranged in age from pre-school to – well let’s say someone in their seventh decade. The delight of this first Green Day ride was typified by the fact that the majority of us were complete strangers and were embarking on a trip into Nottingham by bike for the first time. Despite the worried looks when we appeared to set off in the wrong direction, because Nottingham was “over there” and we were heading somewhere different.

But we needn’t have worried – for we had a fantastic ride alongside the river without a car in sight; crossed over the river by the old toll bridge at Wilford and happily cycled in towards the station. Once again without a single car to scare us off. Many thanks to our two leaders (Malcolm
and Margaret)who shepherded us safely right the way to Broadway where we happily parked up for a drink before heading back to Bridgford.

A huge thanks also to Freewheel– who very kindly gave us all a spare inner tube and checked that everything was fine with the bikes and the trailer in which Millie our youngest dare devil sat, rather like a young princess! We were able to see Nottingham quite differently at a pace that suited us. All in all it made a trip into town quite an enjoyable experience rather than the usual crowded hassle that cars or buses can be. But it was more than finding out a new way into town, it also let us all actually enjoy the journey, and that is not something that many drivers could ever say! by Mike Finn

Some constructive feedback from a member of the public and response from the NCT

Dear Karina

I hope you don't mind, but I thought it might be helpful if I provide you with my feedback on my experience of yesterday.

I think the initiative is a brilliant idea. My children go to Jesse Gray school who were fully behind it and Michelle from the Green Box Shop is a friend of mine, so I bought our badges from Michelle and we walked to school in the morning, the children with green ribbons in their hair. Usually I would then drive to work in the city centre, but, inspired by the initiative, I part walked / part bussed into town.

It was fine, until it was time to come home from work and pick the children up from school. There are only limited buses that go to Musters Road, but the number 9 was due at 3.00pm, which at that time of day should have got me to school just about in time to pick up the children. Unfortunately it didn't turn up which meant that by the time the next bus came I ended up being 15 minutes late for school. I don't know if you have any sort of forum with Nottingham City Transport to raise issues, but if you do I thought you might want to mention it. For the green streets initiative to work, a reliable public transport service is essential.

I understand the next Green Streets is during half term week, so I will be in West Bridgford and am looking forward to fully participating.

All the best F.P

Hi F

I am sorry that you have experienced difficulties with our service 9 on Friday and couldn't agree more that public transport has to be reliable to encourage and maintain usage and this is an area we have been working hard on for several years to meet customer expectations.
To investigate further, please can you confirm which stop you were waiting at for service 9, so I can arrange for CCTV to be downloaded from the bus to identify what the problem was and respond with more detail.
Regards,
Anthony Carver-Smith
NCT Brands Manager

Dear F,

Thank you for confirming that for me. I regret to advise that the bus was not operational due to a vehicle breakdown and the bus was awaiting replacement at Victoria Centre, which occurred at 15:20. I can only apologise for the obvious inconvenience caused on this occasion, and would like to assure you such issues are rare. As recompense for your inconvenience,I will arrange for an Easyrider Anytime smart card with 3 days travel on, to be sent to you. Regards

Anthony

Pedal powered smoothy maker at the Becket School

Hello Karina

Plenty of pupils walked and cycled to the Becket School today although I’m not sure it was more than would be normal for such a lovely day. We did have a team from the County Council bring in their Blendavenda. The pupils enjoyed that and we had a queue waiting for their turn throughout the lunch break. Good luck. I think you’ve got a great idea and I hope it grows and grows.
DS

Green Streets Nordic Walking

Rediscovering a new way to walk in your late 20s is an odd sensation, but thanks to the Green Streets initiative, a colleague and I learned to do just that on the banks of the Trent on Friday afternoon.

Thanks to Catherine Hughes, an experienced Nordic Walker, a small handful of us decided to thrust our bodies into a medley of alien manoeuvres, learning the basics in a series of short exercises. The merits of the activity were apparent immediately – you use a number of muscles that rarely get to see any action, and it is easy to see how you could get very fit very quickly doing this on a regular basis.It is a pastime that can be taken up by anybody very easily and whilst I wouldn’t recommend doing it wearing a suit and tie, it’s an ideal pursuit now the sun seems to be with us again.One tip – it’s a lot easier when you don’t think about it!