TODAY Britain’s most decorated paralympian will be proudly joining a Barnsley school for its park and stride to school.
Dame Sarah Storey will be walking with Queens Road Academy pupils from the Metrodome to the school while having a chat. The Dame’s new role of active travel commissioner for the Sheffield City Region means she will ask pupil’s about active travel and how easy they find it to walk and cycle as alternative travel to school.
The park and stride event is one of many initiatives aimed at encouraging school pupils to engage with Barnsley bringing ‘Beat the Street’ to the town for a six week programme starting on Wednesday June 5.
Beat Box sensors will placed on lampposts around the town for players to tap their card against, scoring points for the distance they walk, cycle or scoot. Beat the Street takes a community approach to behaviour change through the gamification of an entire area.
Working with schools, leisure sector, GPs, local authorities, community organisations and local media, the game unites the whole community in a highly visible fun way.
This will be followed by a Clean Air Day on Thursday June 20 where pupils will learn how active travel can play a vital role in increasing clean air in the borough.
Coun Chris Lamb, council spokesman for place (environment and transport) said: “It’s great to see Dame Sarah Storey coming to Barnsley in her new role to speak to pupils about this important topic. She has such fantastic accolades and is no stranger to Barnsley as she was front and centre at this year’s Tour de Yorkshire which started here, so the pupils will certainly take on board what she has to say.
“Active Travel in Barnsley is something we’re incredibly keen to push. It has a wide range of benefits from cleaner air, better health and reduces congestion. Seeing so many people in Barnsley taking active travel up from a young age is a great step to creating a healthier future for our town.”
