With the Stanley Family Cycle day just a couple of weeks away, the introduction to cycling around the area has been given a boost.
The organisers and the Town Council have got together and made the event available to all by making the day a free event.
Council Chairman Joan Nicholson is looking forward to the day and hopes the people of the parish will get behind the project. “This ride is very much geared to the people in the Town and surrounding area.  The Council is putting on small events across the year that are looking to bring back even more of the community feel. This is just part of what we are doing for the Town and we hope people of all ages will get behind this and other events throughout the year.”
Centred on the town’s Oakey Park, the focus of the day will see a fabulous ride of around 6 miles showing off some great landscape and countryside on the way to Beamish. To make sure it isn’t too had on the legs, we will have a half way rest up where we can hone the bike skills with the Council’s Cycle Proficiency team.
Colin Wilkes, part of the organising team: “This is an ideal way to introduce the cycle ways around the Stanley area to a wider audience.  People still need to ‘sign up’ so we know how many to expect – although there will be a limited amount of on the day spaces available.  This is all due to the extra funding that we can offer a great day without charge.”
Along with the ride, there will be other stalls including bike protection marking by the local police, and also some advice on healthy lifestyle.
The event, on Sunday 1st May, will be an opportunity to see some of the best of the countryside around the Stanley area and will also publicise the planned opening of a new link route from the C2C route into Stanley town centre.
For more information, please see the facebook page: Stanley Family Cycle