Si wrote:Well, on the subject of kids.....when we go into a school and teach bikeability we quite often have kids asking if there is some sort of club they can join to continue riding. And I'm afraid the answer seems to be 'no'. Problem is that there are loads of clubs around here but as far as I know they only accept kids if the parents come too. And for the most part the parents aren't interested in cycling. What we need is some sort of club setting up in urban areas where the kids can go without parents and be taught different things about cycling,e.g. bikeability, MTBing, BMXing, racing, spannering, etc etc. CTC doesn't seem to offer anything like this on a wide scale as the local MGs are all volunteer run and few volunteers want to get mixed up in what is basically a cycling youth club.
I don't know if it is the same issues as facing many other clubs for youngsters but somebody who does a lot of work with kids (water based activities/sport) explained to me how these days a major issue facing getting adult volunteers is the risk of accusations of "inappropriate" behaviour (which might be false). That somehow men who volunteer for helping in such clubs can have a "why" question over their real reasons. And whilst some will still help, many are discouraged by the real or imagined risks. Saw something similar reported in the Guardian (I think) some time ago.
Ian