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Posted on by Debbie

Happy and Bright – and square!

Bright Squares

Happy and bright is the theme for my #brightsquare post today.

How can you not smile at the happy and bright faces of these senior citizens?

They were taken for a ride on our Tumbarumba to Rosewood Rail Trail in the Cycling Without Age trikes on our Family Fun Day on Saturday.

Cycling Without Age is a wonderful concept bringing joy and freedom to senior citizens who can no longer manage to ride a bike.

Cycling Without Age is a not-for-profit charity that provides a community service by connecting those no longer able to ride for themselves with their community and the outdoors by giving them free rides on trishaw ebikes, piloted by volunteer cyclists.

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on the trail with cycling without age trikes
rail trail opening
trike and penny farthing
happy and bright cycling without age trike

The average age of those in these photos is about 90 years old, with Ailsa Cottam in the bottom photo (on the left hand side) aged 98! Just look at her smile!! What joy.

The idea for us to include the trikes on our program was started when one of the elderly residents was telling her daughter about how she used to catch the train to Wagga from Tumbarumba and wondered how the rail trail looked now that it was finished. She wasn’t able to get out onto the trail due to her frail state. We decided to ask for one of these trikes to be made available for our Family Fun Day and invite some of the elderly residents to take a ride along the rail trail. We were lucky to get the loan of two trikes. My husband was one of the ‘pilots’ and said it was one of the best things he’s ever done as they were so happy to be out on the trail.

We ended up with 31 senior citizens riding the rail trail in these specially designed trikes, and they loved every moment of it. They reminisced with each other, waved to cyclists passing them by and took in all the activity along the trail with wide eyed excitement. It was a bit cool but they were kept warm with blankets, hats and scarves and their smiles were bright and happy!

CYCLING WITHOUT AGE FACTS (from their website)

  • Established in 2012 in Copenhagen
  • First trishaws in Australia in 2016
  • Cycling Without Age Australia incorporated as a registered charity in 2019
  • Australia has over 60 Cycling Without Age Affiliates and approximately 35 chapter locations
  • Represented in 46 other countries
  • 2,700 trishaws
  • 31,500 trained cycle pilots
  • Over 1 million people served
  • Oldest pilot is 90 (Jørgen Hass, Denmark) and oldest passengers (Madam Yeo Iu, Singapore, and Dagny Carlsson, Sweden, both 107)

What a wonderful bright idea that makes everyone so happy when they hear about it, or better still, see it in action!

I was fortunate to get a ride too with my fellow committee member, and we decided we were the Queens of the rail trail. Look at our waves 🙂

The Queens of the Rail Trail
The Queens of the Rail Trail

Becky’s square theme for April is Bright – it’s a challenge where she posts a photo every day. She invites others to join her in sharing their square photos, either every day or as they feel the urge. I’m dipping in and out through the month but am enjoying looking for all things bright and beautiful.

Feel free to join in with Becky and the Squares, the more the merrier.

Bright is a lovely theme to keep our spirits up, wouldn’t you agree?

Also joining Denyse for #lifethisweek

Enjoy!

Deb 🙂

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Becky’s squares logo

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Everyone has a story to tell!

Debbie - mother of a 40 year old

Deb is a young-at-heart & active 60+ blogger/retiree, after being made redundant from her 22-year career managing education programs in a men’s correctional centre (jail). She now spends her time reading, blogging, riding her ebike and travelling. Deb was awarded a Bravery Award from the Queen when she was 17 after a tragic accident – a definite life changing moment! She is married with 3 grown-up daughters & has 4 grandchildren. You can read more of Deb’s story here

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49 Replies to “Happy and Bright – and square!”

  2. Pingback: Bright Spots – The life of B

  3. By all the comments before mine I can see the delight everyone else had reading and viewing your post.Fantastic weekend ( I am sure you had a lot of work leading up to it) for everyone. Such a great initiative having these older (than me, so far) folk ‘back on a bike’. G must be a very fit man!!

    Thank you for linking up for Life This Week. Next week, the optional prompt is Interesting. My post will be a continuation of Telling My Story as I am wanting to wrap the series up. It’s great to have your blogging support on my link up. Thank you. Denyse

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    1. It’s just the best idea!! We are now working on getting some trikes for our local community through grant funding as everyone was so positive about it.

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  5. Oh my goodness! What a wonderful idea! You brought a huge smile to my face with this post Deb. Such joy brought to these elderly people is just fabulous. Nothing like the great outdoors and wind in our hair to bring a big smile to the dial and lift spirits. Just wonderful. Thank you!

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    1. Thanks Min, I loved how it’s made others smile too, just reading about it and seeing the big smiles! The wind in your hair is such a great description.

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    1. Thanks Anne, I’m sure it’s a world wide organisation. I loved capturing their smiles and the pilots enjoyed it just as much, hearing their stories and seeing their joy.

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  11. What a wonderful idea. You are never too old to have some fun. I haven’t ridden a bike since I was 15. I wonder if I could hook one of these on my husbands bike. 🙂

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  15. Oh wow, Deb, what a wonderful idea! Just a brilliant way to include people of all abilities in the enjoyment of the rail trail. The smiles on everyone’s faces show just how much joy it brought not just the elderly passengers, but the pilots and spectators as well. Fantastic. regards Christina

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  16. Congratulations to you and your team, Deb for what looks like a successful birthday celebration for the Tumbarumba to Rosewood rail trail. I would be a perfect passenger for one of these trikes as I’ve never been able to master riding a bike! Looks like everyone had so much fun and your post made me smile. xx

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    1. Many thanks Sue, it was a lot of effort but well worth it in the end. Yes you could definitely have a go in the trike and feel the wind in your hair :). We are working on getting some for our community, so when you come and visit I’ll arrange it for you.

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  19. Oh what a lovely idea. I love the inclusivity that certain activities offer. And of course some cultures are better at it than others.

    And I agree that those in your pics look happy and joyful and that’s certainly contagious.

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    1. Deb, you have no idea how much joy it was to see their happy faces, despite the freezing cold day! It was a full ‘family’ fun day encompassing all family members!

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  22. This is just glorious! Looking at those smiles put one on my dial – what a great initiative. Side note: you really have perfected the royal wave!

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    1. They sure do make you smile don’t they Janis? It was the stuff of goosebumps on the day, hearing their stories, seeing their smiles and being a part of it all. I’m so glad you enjoyed them too 😊

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