Live Learn Earn

success stories

March 2022 – Biking fun in the Borders

Live Learn Earn CIC

Peebles

Live Learn Earn CIC is a social enterprise that was established in November 2020 to be able to provide employability skills and positive active behaviors in young people of school age in the Scottish borders. The organization currently works with two schools in the Peebles area to support children to walk, cycle or scoot to and from school safely, accompanied by staff and volunteers. Currently, there are 30-35 young people who Live Learn Earn work with on a weekly basis.

In August 2021, the organisation was awarded a grant of £3,000.00 by The Essentia Foundation to undertake a sports-based project that would empower and build the capacity of young people. The project involved the provision of indoor bike skills sessions in Peebles. These sessions were held in a local community centre hall (Drill Hall, Peebles) and were staffed by both expert tutors and volunteers. The format of the sessions saw groups of young people being instructed on pre-prepared courses, that differed every week, in biking skills and around the disciplines of “trial biking” Live Learn Earn employed an expert tutor to undertake this instruction due to its specialized nature and the programmes intention to deliver the highest quality experience to the young people participating. The sessions were also directly supported by Scottish Bike Trial who assisted with insurance and risk assessments as well as bringing along bikes, equipment and volunteers.

Since its launch, the project has run 2 sessions per week. The first took place on Friday nights from 6-9pm and was aimed at 12 years old and above, with the second being held on Saturday mornings for under 12s from 9-12 noon. This format ran for 10 weeks from September to November in 2021 and organizers saw attendance rapidly grow to over 50 participants a week. Live, Learn, Earn also arranged group sessions for clubs such as The Beavers who brought groups of up to 20 and saw many of them returning as individuals. These numbers exceeded expectation and the project saw 300 children and teenagers participate in activities that will benefit their mental and physical health.

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