Outdoors loving Shauna Brown found her perfect volunteering role pedalling in the fresh air
With time to spare, retired midwife Shauna Brown was keen to volunteer but didn’t relish the idea of being cooped up indoors.
“I love the outdoors and nature and when you think of volunteering, you tend to think of roles working in charity shops,” she admits.
Shauna, who’ll be 66 in May, also realised that if she was going to stick with volunteering, she should choose something she’d love doing.
So when she saw a leaflet appealing for volunteer trishaw pilots for Cycling Without Age Scotland in a park near her Falkirk home, she nervously contacted them. Five years on, she hasn’t looked back.
The international charity, launched in Denmark in 2012 to help elderly people with limited mobility enjoy free countryside rides on electric trishaws pedalled by volunteer ‘pilots’, proved so popular the movement spread across the world .
Scotland opened its first chapter in 2018 and Shauna underwent her first training session the following year.
After learning how to safely load and unload passengers as well as road safety, tyre pressures and dealing with punctures, she did several practice rides with a trainer before going solo.
Today she volunteers for one or two rides a week of between five and eight kilometres, gets involved in training new pilots and is an ambassador for the charity.
One young passenger, Ashleigh, has been a regular from the outset and they’ve formed a special bond.
“We laugh a lot and her smile says it all. A trishaw ride lifts the spirit, forges precious memories and makes people happy – including myself. I treasure the memory of taking my own dad out not knowing he would pass away just a few weeks later,” Shauna adds.
Visit cyclingwithoutage.scot
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