| | |
| | |
 | You and Yours - Transcript BBC Radio 4 |
| |
| Print This Page |
| |
| |
| TX: 21.12.05 - Tandems for the Blind PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON |
| |
| Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. ROBINSON Two thousand and five was the year of the volunteer, to celebrate the contribution volunteers make and to persuade more of us to give up a little of our time for good causes. Yesterday, as part of our efforts to find out what voluntary work is really like, I was helping out at my local Oxfam shop and today it's Sheila's turn. In our home county of Merseyside she rode a bike, not just any old bike riding but tandem, with the Liverpool Voluntary Society for the Blind. They need front riders to cycle with people who are visually impaired. There are over 3,000 people with sight problems on Merseyside and Jim Moran is chief executive of the society. MORAN Welcome to our tandem club. SHEILA I certainly don't know what I'm letting myself in for. MORAN No you don't know what you're letting yourself in for. SHEILA I'm getting really worried now because I can see these tandems and I've never been near one but just before I have a closer look. How long have you been doing the cycling for? MORAN Well the cycling we set off in 1996 after a company wanted to provide something to help young people get out and about. And when we asked young people what they wanted they said well tandems would be nice to go cycling. SHEILA How different is it to riding a normal bike? MORAN Well it's eight feet long for a start, so it's a bit longer than your average bike. You have to tell the person on the back you're approaching traffic lights otherwise you won't stop because they'll peddle you through. SHEILA So it's like a complete [indistinct words]... MORAN Oh yeah, yeah the peddles are synchronised anyway, they're all synced, so there's no problem and you kick off on the same foot, so you'd always kick off with your right foot or your left foot down. SHEILA Right. MORAN And whenever you stop you put your left foot down. SHEILA Left foot down to stop. Okay. Well I'm going to go and meet Ann now because I think Ann you have been chosen to ride behind me dear, do you know what you're letting yourself in for? You've done this a lot before though ... ANN I have yeah, yeah, yeah I have been tandem riding for at least 10 years. SHEILA We'll get on and we'll just have a little practise before we go off, is that okay? ANN Three, two, one go. SHEILA Whooa. I'm just about to head into a Ford car. [Screeches] Right I'm going to stop now and I'm putting the brakes on, okay? That ends our trial run, what do you reckon? ANN You'll be alright lass. SHEILA We're not out of the car park yet. What do you look for in a volunteer? MORAN Someone who's keen, who's going to be prepared to turn up when they say they're going to turn up because otherwise you're letting somebody down. SHEILA Do you have to be mega fit? MORAN No not really. Some people really want to ride 30, 40 miles on a Sunday and others just want to tootle up the road and do a 10 miler or so. SHEILA Minimum 10 miles! MORAN Well it's not far - 10 miles. SHEILA You didn't tell me this on the phone. MORAN Oh no, no well we don't tell anybody that on the phone. SHEILA Okay, now let's see if I can remember what I'm doing Ann. It's right foot ... ANN Right foot up. SHEILA Three, two, one go. So here we are Ann about only a five or so minute ride from the centre and it's like being in a different world, this is the old railway line? ANN Railway - disused railway line yeah. And it's been made into a cycle track. SHEILA It really is fantastically peaceful. We're going to have a little cycle along here. I believe they've got a pub in mind tonight. ANN It's called the Turnpike, so it's not far. SHEILA I'm picking it up quite quickly really but I think that's your expertise. ANN I'm very impressed with you actually Sheila, you're very steady. SHEILA So Ann tell me a little bit about yourself, how long have you been coming to the club? ANN I started with this club and coming out on a regular basis about seven years ago I would say. SHEILA And what do you like best about these rides? ANN You know getting to know everyone and it's just lovely to be out in the fresh air and doing something that you wouldn't normally be able to do. SHEILA There's lots of nettles either side Ann, so I'm going to keep very steady here. I mean you have got to trust your front rider haven't you really. ANN Very much so, yeah, very much so. SHEILA Right well we're going to stop here because there's a kind of gate that we have to negotiate. Stopping, slowing down Ann and stop. So Don, you're one of the regular front riders, how long have you been with the group now? DON I think I joined the group about four years ago I suppose now. SHEILA And why do you do it? DON Well I like cycling, I like promoting cycling. SHEILA So what would you say to people who have never volunteered in their lives, I mean I don't think people realise just that the amount of different things that they can do and something like this is available if you're a keen cyclist or even just an average cyclist really you could get involved and give a hand couldn't you. DON Certainly. There's not many opportunities to ride a tandem. SHEILA How far to the pub then Don? DON About two miles. SHEILA I think I can manage that. Okay then. ANN What would you like to drink? SHEILA I should be getting you a drink shouldn't I? ANN Well no it's tradition that the back rider buys the front rider because you've got me here safe and sound. SHEILA I think that's debatable. ANN And I want you to get me back as well. SHEILA In that case if you want to get back safely I'll just have an orange and lemonade. Sitting and relaxing Jim, which is great, I mean how vital are the volunteers to what you do? MORAN Well of course I suppose it's stating the obvious that if you don't have a front rider who can see on the front of the tandem then you don't have a tandem you can drive. If we paid volunteers the basic minimum wage of £5 an hour we would have to pay out £2,000 per week for volunteers of LVSB, so that's over £100,000 a year just to ... SHEILA For the whole society across everything you do. MORAN Across everything we do. That's an enormous contribution made by volunteers. I mean this has been quite quick with you but usually what LVSB will do with all our volunteers is we actually give them a rehabilitation course on how to guide and how to meet people, so that they feel comfortable with it because there's nothing worse than getting it wrong, so we always do sighted guide training with everybody. SHEILA Do most people come back again having done it the once? MORAN Oh well we hope so Sheila, we'll see you next week. SHEILA No seriously, I don't know about next week but I have really enjoyed it, it's great fun and it's not quite as tricky as I thought. MORAN Okay shall we make a move while we've still got the light, so it's good luck and thanks for everybody for taking part tonight. Cheers. ROBINSON Sheila and she's still showing off the bruises. SHEILA I'm alright actually because I've got a padded seat. ROBINSON There's a picture of her outside the pub on the You and Yours website, not of her padded seat, I hasten to add. Back to the You and Yours homepage The BBC is not responsible for external websites |
| About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy |
