On yer bike!

Members of the mountain biking group at Newhaven and Castle Hill unit, St Luke’s Hospital, Huddersfield will be cycling in style thanks to the generosity of a local bike shop.

Andy Bentley the owner of ‘Wheelspin Cycles’ on Viaduct Street, Huddersfield has given the group one bike free of charge and two at a discounted price.

Newhaven and Castle Hill are low secure units for people with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities, run by the South West Yorkshire Mental Health Trust.

The mountain biking group is just one of many groups run by the occupational therapy team at the units.

Occupational therapy technical instructor Peter Revy says, "We’re so grateful to Andy at Wheelspin for his donations and support. It means that we can expand the group and with higher quality bikes we can try more challenging bike rides. It’s really motivated the group members.

"Occupational therapy uses meaningful activities as treatment. The team here supports and assists service users from Castle Hill unit and Newhaven to engage in activities which they find purposeful and valuable. Through activities like mountain biking staff are able to assess and treat each individual."

Andy Bentley from Wheelspin cycles says, "I was happy to help out, we like to support local groups. We get a lot of custom from local people so it’s nice to give something back to the community. It seems that the people in the group get a lot out of it so we’re pleased to support such a worthy cause."

The mountain biking group has been running for the past three years. They go out for bike rides every week in the summer and as much as possible in the winter. The group cycle around the local area, in traffic free lanes and along the canal, and have also travelled further a field to Sheffield and the Peak District.