iWay provides bikes and helmets for preschoolers

Hastings District Council’s iWay project has come to the aid of a preschool and provided both bikes and helmets for kids who want to learn to ride bikes.

iWay team leader Owen Mata received an email from the children at Future Kids preschool who love to learn to ride bikes but only had three helmets for all of them to share.

The helmets were also in need of replacement, so the iWay team stepped in to provide some new helmets for the under fives and create a whole new generation of cyclists.

Future Kids preschool has now been given three new helmets for the children to wear and has also received four bikes, which have been refurbished at Hawke’s Bay Prison through the iWay bike recycling programme.

Owen Mata says” it’s great that the children at the preschool are being encouraged to ride bikes and iWay is pleased to be able to provide helmets. As we head towards spring, more kids will be hopping on their bikes to enjoy the great outdoors. It is important that they learn from a young age that cycle helmets are a must when they are riding and preschools are a good place to begin those lessons.”

“Your children should wear helmets as soon as they start to ride bikes - even if they are passengers on the back of an adult's bike. If they learn to wear helmets when riding at a young age, it becomes a habit of a lifetime, “Mr Mata says.

Future Kids preschool worker Dane Mcmillan says,” the kids are really loving their new bikes and have already sorted out their favourites. The girls have taken to the bike with the silver streamers on the handlebars. Jezze, Isabella and Summer and their school friends are glad that the rebuilt bikes have now arrived so there is a greater chance of going for a ride.”

“The bikes and helmets are a huge boost to the preschool and will help enormously in teaching the kids to ride safely.”

“I am also a keen cyclist and am really enjoying riding along the new lanes which have been created around Hastings. I am particularly grateful that lanes have been painted on Frederick Street and Nottingley Road, as I cycle along these streets on my way to work,” Mr Mcmillan says.
iWay is a project of the Hastings District Council which aims to make cycling and walking easy, safe and fun around the district.