World Car Free Day might be over for another year, but one lucky family has been given the chance to get around in a greener way long into the future after winning a £500 bike voucher at the recent Soundbite Festival – staged by the Live West Ealing initiative.

Primary school pupil Maryan from Greenford scooped the prize at September’s Soundbite Festival, which took place at Dean Gardens, West Ealing as part of the borough’s Car Free Day celebrations.

It meant that Maryan and her brother Yahya were able to get brand new bikes, perfect for cycling to school on – and last month, leader of Ealing Council, Julian Bell handed over the bikes in person when he met them alongside mum Tasneem.

Councillor Bell said: “These lucky children have won these two wonderful new bikes that they are going to cycle to school on and it was my pleasure and privilege to be able to hand the bikes over.”

Soundbite Festival was a day of community events and activities for locals, put on as part of the Live West Ealing initiative, which is securing new infrastructure to help residents walk, cycle or use public transport more often.

Councillor Bell added: “The more people that ride bikes regularly the better – which is why we are looking to put new cycle infrastructure here in the local area as part of the Live West Ealing project.

“We have secured more than £8m from the Mayor of London to create new infrastructure as we look to make it even safer and easier for people to choose greener modes of transport. 

“Safe cycling infrastructure is vital so that people have that confidence to get out there on two wheels and enjoy riding to wherever they need to go or just for pleasure.”

Tasneem added: “The children are absolutely ecstatic. They have been counting down the days until we received the bikes, so they are absolutely over the moon to say the least.

“Normally we have to take the car at least half way on the school run for my youngest so in terms of becoming more independent, this is an absolutely fantastic initiative to get him pushed in the right direction – literally. 

“I want to say thank you for helping us do our bit for the planet – it’s great to be in a community that has initiatives like this to help us save the planet.”

Soundbite took place in West Ealing, providing a day of community events for locals to enjoy including food, music, workshops, a craft market and children’s activities.

Ealing also celebrated World Car Free Day by transforming 25 local roads into PlayStreets – the most ever in the borough and one of the highest number in London. Playstreets are roads that have been closed for a few hours to allow children to play out safely in the street and provide an opportunity for residents to mingle, chat and socialise.

Affordable cycle parking

Live West Ealing is currently offering 50% cycling storage for the first 12 months, so a bicycle space will cost £36 per year rather than £72.  If you already rent an existing space Live West Ealing will subsidise your space for a year upon renewal. To find out more or to order a cycle space go to the Ealing Council website.  

If you are interested in having a bike hangar installed on your road, please send an email to cycling@ealing.gov.uk including where you would like this to be located so we can investigate the sites suitability. Please note that bike hangars are only installed subject to local consultation with residents.