The people of Ulverston are all set to welcome the Tour of Britain 2018 with dozens of specially decorated bike wheels displayed around the town.
At the first ‘Wheely Amazing Workshop’ held at Ulverston Leisure Centre, children and adults were creating designs ranging for space to super-colourful flowers.
The sessions were supported by JoAnne Speight from Paper Petals and staff from the Active Communities team at the Leisure Centre.
Leisure centre ‘spokes-person’ Caroline Smith explained: “We have had a great response so far. For £2 we provide the bike wheels and all the materials – people just need to come along with their ideas and it produces a perfect ‘chain reaction’.”
The next ‘Wheely Amazing Workshop’ is on August 22nd at the Leisure Centre from 10.00am to 12.00noon. Ulverston Leisure Centre is appealing for donations of bicycle wheels which will gain a new colourful lease of life, and is also working with the County Council which aims to salvage wheels from bikes deposited at the recycling centre in Ulverston.
Other initiatives to celebrate the Tour of Britain’s visit to Ulverston include a giant ‘Stan Laurel-on-a-bike’ design climbing the Hoad, decorated bowler hats in ‘winning green’, cycling superstars graphics around the town, and a giant BID-sponsored TV in the town centre to keep track of the riders.
The Tour of Britain will visit Ulverston on Friday, September 7th. The race stage starts from Barrow and travels down the coast road with the competitors racing to a sprint finish outside Ulverston Leisure Centre before riding through the town’s cobbled streets and heading out towards Windermere, Ambleside and Keswick.
The Town Council is heading up a Tour of Britain task force including the representatives from the Business Improvement District, Ulverston Leisure Centre, local bike shops, Cumbria County Council and the town’s traders and schools.
Market Street and New Market Street will close to traffic on Friday September 7th to enable people to cheer the racers as they ride through the centre of town, from Tank Square up Market Street to the Cross, before turning right and heading out of town for the next stage of the race towards the finish at Whinlatter.
A rolling roadblock supervised by the police and Tour of Britain organisers will accompany the riders throughout the 168km Cumbrian stage.
The Town Council is negotiating with Townlands Trust for local artists to paint the huge Stan Laurel graphic design on the side of Hoad Hill in flora and fauna friendly paint to coincide with the race. Key locations around the town centre will be decorated with a dozen graphic designs featuring British cycling heroes, and local schoolchildren are decorating hundreds of green bowler hats which they will wear at they cheer on the racers coming into Ulverston.
For more information on Ulverston and the race visit the Tour of Britain Ulverston Facebook page or www.tourofbritain.co.uk
Chris Nelson, Trafalgar PR
