INVERLEITH ON FOOT AND BY BIKE –GETTING INVERLEITH ACTIVE!

FESTIVAL REPORT

The Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership has four key objectivesaiming to improve the quality of life of people living, working and visiting Inverleith. All four can have an impact on walking and cycling locally and these are:

  • to increase physical activity levels (INP Physical Activity Action Group)
  • to engage better with young people (INP Young People Action Group)
  • to enhance the community’s enjoyment of open greenspaces (INP Greenspace Action Group)
  • to increase walking and cycling (INP Active Travel Action Group)

Cllr Hinds is INP Champion of the Inverleith Active Travel Forum and this group organised a festival of walking and cycling with the aim of changing local people’s walking and cycling habits, with assistance from SCSP funding.

The INVERLEITH ON FOOT AND BY BIKE festival took place on Sunday 13 Sept 2015and offered a range of walking and cycling related activities as well as information and advice stalls. Activities were free and we aimed to make the event attractive to people of all ages and abilities.

Key results:

  • We estimate at least 1000 people took part in the events
  • 26 local organisations involved – public, private and statutory – offering activities and / or information and support
  • 70 people completed a form giving information on their current walking and cycling habits to enable us to follow this up in 6 months / year
  • Festival was on budget £3500, plus £1500 additional for pop up cinema and live screening
  • We offered a park first with cycle powered pop-up cinema and live screening

The main aims of the event were:

  1. to identify and remove any barriers to participation
  2. to give participants the chance to try new activities in a fun environment
  3. to signpost to further activities and events to increase interest in walking and cycling
  4. to bring together local groups and organisations
  5. to gather data to help us measure increase in walking and cycling
  1. To identify and remove any barriers to participation

Potential barriers identified included cost, lack of awareness of the event, accessibility.

  • All activities were free to participate, from bike security marking to smoothie making
  • Wheelchair accessible loos were provided on the hard surface at the entrance to the event and a first aid station was provided
  • Activities were designed to be attractive to all ages and abilities, from guided walks of the park’s Rose Garden and orienteering to walking football and obstacle course.
  • Publicity was extensive and included banners around the park at key locations / posters distributed to known noticeboards and also to libraries, surgeries etc / info was sent to mailing list of 450 local groups individuals / the event was tweeted and retweeted at regular intervals during the build up on the day / word of mouth was used to spread the word at local meetings and events / school bag drops were done at Ferryhill and Flora Stevensons Primary Schools / an advert was in StockFest brochure.

“My son loved every minute of it”

  1. To give participants the chance to try new activities in a fun environment

All of our practical activities were chosen because they were fun and non-competitive. We also hosted the park’s first ever cycle powered, pop-up cinema, which screened a selection of short films and documentaries themed around active travel and also live screened the finalé of the Tour of Britain arriving in London.

Fun free promotional products were given to interested individuals, including high vis backpack covers, sweet tins, collapsible water bottles and childrens backpacks with high vis strip. All activitieswere free to take part in, and included:

  • Guided walks (Friends of Inverleith Park)
  • Led walk/jogs (Pilton Community Health Project / Jog Scotland)
  • Try orienteering (Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club)
  • Bike obstacle course (Fet-Lor Youth)
  • Try unicycle (Fet-Lor Youth Club)
  • Smoothie bikes (MyAdventure / Edinburgh Bike Co-op)
  • Nordic walking (Edin. Nordic Walking)
  • Exercise bikes (Edinburgh Leisure)
  • Cycle powered cinema (Take One Action)
  • Crazy golf (CEC Community Learning & Development)
  • Bling up your bike (Ibike)
  • Walking football (Active Schools)
  • Basic bike checks (Grease Monkeys
  • Bike security marking (Police Scotland)

“The cycling was fantastic and the guys were so patient”

  1. To signpost to further activities / events to increase interest in walking and cycling

As well as trying out the activities above, and chatting to the organisations running these events, we invited local organisations to have a stall in the marquee to give information and advice to anyone interested in doing more walking and cycling. These included the organisations below:

  • CEC 20mph / walking info
  • CEC Libraries / Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership
  • Living Streets
  • Ramblers
  • Spokes
  • Sustrans / IBike
  • Move More / Aging Well (EdinburghLeisure)
  • Gamma / Ronde Bike / Edinburgh Bicycle Coop shops
  • The Bike Station
  • SeptemberFest / Here+Now displays

  1. Togather data to help us measure increase in walking and cycling

We designed a simple form (above) and encouraged as many participants as possible to complete this to give us baseline data on local walking and cycling behaviours and intentionsto help us measure increase in walking/cycling. There was a free prize draw with gifts from local bike shops as an attraction to complete and in total, 70 individuals completed the form. We intend to contact those who provided contact details again in six months and at future events to see if there is any change in behaviour.

“Thank you so much for today”

  1. To bring together local groups and organisations

26 public, private and statutoryorganisations were involved in the event, providing walking, cycling or other physical activities whilst others offered info & support to people interested in taking up or increasing their physical activity through future activity.

Three local bike shops and Edinburgh Leisure offered free prizes for our prize draw.

“We had a good level of engagement at our stall”

  1. Next steps

Many participants and groups are keen that this continues next year, so we aim to raise funds for this. But there are some things that we might try differently:

  • Longer lead in time for planning and organisation
  • Look at different ways of publicising event egthroughPedal for Scotland & more posters in park
  • Consider offering sign up in advance for some activities?

Elaine Lennon, Nov 2015 - Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership,

City of Edinburgh Council, North Local Office, 8 West Pilton Gardens, Edinburgh, EH4 4DP. Direct dial 0131 529 5270