Having your own bike is a rite of passage that for many children sets them on the path to independence.

Getting the freedom and thrill to travel in a direction of your own choosing at your own speed, whether it is around your garden, a park or out with friends is second to none. The teachers at Sandside Lodge School, in Ulverston, wanted to make sure that this dream could come true for all of their pupils.

But Christmas came early for cycling club leader Sheila Mitton, fellow teachers and pupils as they received the funding they needed to purchase a crop of new disability trikes.

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Sheila's cycling club has proved increasingly popular over the past year, providing many of her pupils with joy as they were able to get out and about on their trikes.

The first specialist trikes for the children were generously purchased from the sponsorship money from the Fred Whitton Challenge, a gruelling 112-mile charity bike ride around the Lake District, earlier this year.

Now the school has gained another huge boost to help them achieve their goal after receiving a cheque for £18,875 from the Lakes Leisure charity, which previously owned Ulverston Leisure Centre.

This huge sum of money will be enough to buy trikes for many more of the children in the cycling club and the school has plans to share them with the community too.

Disability trikes are often out for reach for average families and they are custom built with extra adaptations such a thoracic support, special pedals or lower gears.

Cycling club organiser Sheila said: "Firstly we want to concentrate on using the trikes in school but eventually, we want to be able to store them at Ulverston Leisure Centre so they can be enjoyed by members of the community at weekends.

"The trikes are absolutely amazing, but they are very expensive and we are very lucky to have received such generous donations both from the Fred Whitton charity ride and from Lakes Leisure.

"The disability trikes come in different variations, some have room for a child to cycle with their parent and some actually have room for a wheel chair to fit in as well.

"This sort of design is brilliant for the children here, especially the ones who maybe have limited mobility because they are able to get out and about.

"There is also an important social aspect of joining the cycling club and spending time with friends while doing something different that is fun and active."

In the summer months the pupils who are members of Sandside cycling club received help and tuition from experienced members of the Lakes Road Club. Sheila hopes that the double-seater trikes will be a good way of getting parents involved too and the activity will be something that can be done as a family.

These trikes will bring a lot of happiness to the pupils who will be riding them for many years to come.

Therapeutic benefits of the trikes:

- Riding a tricycle provides both fun and fitness, and is a therapeutic activity that allows children to exercise their lower extremities.

- The muscles move through cycling motions, they are flexed, extended and stretched. This range of motion is crucial for children with disabilities.

- Cycling has the added benefit of strengthening gross motor control development.

- Over time, improved strength of quadriceps, hip extensors, and the ankle muscles, as well as improved trunk stabilisation and balance will show itself.

- With practice, the student’s own spatial awareness will improve, to manoeuvre the tricycle with increasing independence.

- Riding a tricycle trains the student’s lower extremities to move in a reciprocal pattern and in a progression line, strengthening these muscle groups.

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