Alnwick Freeriders Bike Track
Since its launch in August 2018, the track has welcomed visitors from all over the UK and is regularly used by local people of all ages.
Last year we secured permission for a comfort cabin on the Freeriders Bike Track site and this is being used as an outreach base for Gallery Youth to deliver activities as well as advice and information.
Several different activities were organised in the summer holidays including BBQs, drug and alcohol awareness, spray art, and tree planting as well as general advice and information sessions.
The £122,000 facility is sited on land by the sewage works to the east of Allerburn Lea.
The scheme, whose origins date back many years, has come to fruition thanks to positive cooperation between young people and youth workers from the town’s Gallery Youth Project.
Sue Patience, development and support worker at Gallery Youth, said: “This wouldn’t have happened without the commitment and perseverance of young people who have been actively involved from the start.
“This much-needed resource aims to improve the health and wellbeing of all who use it and at the same time being a fun and challenging place to play.”
Financial support has been secured with grants from SUEZ, Sport England, the Community Foundation – Appletree Fund, Northumberland County Council’s Section 106 Fund and Community Chest and local county councillors Gordon Castle and Robbie Moore.
Groundwork North East has been instrumental in negotiating the development of the site, submitting the plans and overseeing the management of the build, while Northumberland Estates made the land available.
Alnwick Town Council and Northumbria Police have also supported the project, with the former taking on a lease for the site and assisting with the administration of the funding.
Sue added: “Gallery Youth would like to thank everyone involved for their time and effort in making this project happen, especially those young people that took part in the initial campaign and previous county councillor, Heather Cairns, whose support from the start helped to get this facility built.”
One of the people who has been instrumental in the project is Mark Egdell, who got involved a decade ago as a teenager. Now in his twenties, he said: “It will be an important facility because when I was younger we had to go far and wide to find a bike track. It is long overdue and will be great for the youngsters.”
