Visit of Chris Holmes to Ferry Meadows

Yesterday, in my capacity as Nations and Regions East representative for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough I had the pleasure of an early morning trip to Ferry Meadows to meet Chris Holmes - winner of  paralympic gold medals - on his visit to Ferry Meadows.  The Peterborough Evening Telegraph story about the visit is here.

The visit was memorable for a number of reasons.  Of course meeting someone as successful as Chris Holmes was a privilege, but that is also true of meeting some of the young local disabled paralympic hopefuls.  Chatting to them about their regular very early morning training sessions and the level of commitment they have to make was a real eye opener for me.

I also had a chat with a couple of the guys involved with the Peterborough Adapted Cycling Scheme who provide handbikes and facilities for the disabled around Peterborough.  The scheme is, apparently, highly successful, with regular sessions at Peterborough Athletics track as well as providing equipment at Ferry Meadows.  As someone who does a bit of cycling, I was extremely impressed with the hand bike I was shown around and somewhat surprised to be told it was ten years old and that the modern ones are much more high tech.

Both Sailability, which provides sailing experience for the disabled, and the adapted cycling scheme are very accessible to Whittlesey people -so please recommend them to anyone you know who could benefit.