Free bicycles for Yeroskipou children

ONE HUNDRED pupils in Yeroskipou in Paphos were each given a free bicycle yesterday.

Secondary school students aged between 12 and 13 took possession of their new bicycles as part of a local municipality initiative, which has been running for the last seven years.

Yeroskipou councillor Panicos Skordis told the Cyprus Mail, “we hope to encourage the children to help protect the environment, and using a bicycle is a greener way of transport.

“In addition,” he said, “we hope these bikes will encourage the children to be conscious of their health and to remain fit.”

The Minister of Transport Nicos Nicolaides, along with the mayor of Yeroskipou Tassos Kousapos, attended the ceremony.

The transport minister also donated 450 protective helmets to give to the students of the school.

The minister praised the local municipality, and spoke of his hope that other areas in Cyprus would follow their excellent example.

Skordis said, “we also asked the minister to add bicycle lanes to any new roads, which may be built in the future. In Yeroskipou we have already installed a number of these, but we would like to see more.”

Children who received their bikes last year are still using them on a daily basis.

“Our next step will be to teach the children how to ride them correctly to ensure they don’t have an accident. We want to be an example to other villages and towns in Cyprus and hope this idea will catch on.”

The councillor added that for the first time, Yeroskipou would be the scene of an International cycle race in April 2009.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.