“2021 the Year of the trike,” according to the marvellous Dave Evans, resident of Gloucestershire House run by Leonard Cheshire

“I moved into Gloucestershire House two years ago where I was introduced to cycling by Gloucestershire Wheels For All. I had never cycled before because of weakness and poor balance caused by my condition which is Charcot Marie Tooth, a hereditary neuropathy. This condition deteriorates over time so I have slowly gone from being relatively active to my current state where I rely on others for pretty well everything.

The bike I started using was a side by side tandem so again I relied on someone to assist which restricted my access to cycling. Another resident had their own Tomcat Bullet Trike which gave them much greater independence with their cycling which appealed to me. I had the assessment and decided to seek support in purchasing my own, which I took delivery of in December 2020.

After losing the ability to do so many things I had taken for granted for so long this was the first thing that I felt I had taken control of in many years, which increased my mental well-being immensely. This along with obvious health benefits (cycling has contributed to me losing more than 20kg in my two years at the home) and the chance to participate in an activity as satisfying and engaging as the regular cycling has made this a life-changing experience for me.

It is great to see good use been made from the recent donation made to Dave Evans by Metro Real Estate.  This has enabled him to get a Trike. Dave is overjoyed to be able to go out on the track at Gloucester to make use of his new trike. During the lockdown he has been learning some video editing skills and has produced this video to show off his new skills.

Metro is really pleased for him and we are just sorry we cannot see the smile on his face because of the mask but we know from him it was a big one!!  Well done Dave.