A long-serving art teacher has signed off in style with a colourful new mural on a bike container, as her school embraces the positive benefits of cycling.
Lesley Hinde recently retired after more than 20 years teaching art at Linwood High. One of her last acts at the school was to design and orchestrate a huge mural on the side of a shipping container used to store bicycles.
Taking inspiration from English painter David Hockney, Mrs Hinde was assisted in the design by a number of students, with more than 100 pupils involved in painting the mural.
Linwood deputy head John Hammond called it a “fantastic job.”
“It’s a brilliant piece of work," he said. “Mrs Hinde came up with a great design, then the students really threw themselves into painting it. Teachers Mari Steven and Fiona Maciver did a lot of work on it too.
“Any free moment, Lesley and the kids were out here, getting the overalls on and painting. It was all about the kids coming together, and they just loved it.
“Thankfully all the paint was water-based, so it didn’t stain any clothes.”
Mr Hammond paid tribute to the departing Mrs Hinde.
“Lesley is very modest, she didn’t want any attention on her retirement,” he said. “But I thought this mural would be a really nice thing for her to leave behind. It’s a fantastic way to remember her time at the school.
“It’s a great legacy for her. It’s typical of her commitment and her hard work. She’s a brilliant lady.”
The newly-painted container was purchased recently to store 25 bikes, also newly acquired, all of which were bought using funding from Cycle Scotland and Renfrewshire Council’s Hearty Lives program.
Mr Hammond says Linwood High has embraced cycling as a way to build confidence and boost wellbeing amongst pupils, with the school’s new ‘Bikeability’ training course proving very popular amongst students.
“Cycling really helps to build the kids’ confidence and resilience,” he said. “They tell us at first ‘there’s no way I can cycle to Bridge of Weir.’ Six weeks later, they’re cycling all the way to Balloch.
“They start off saying ‘I can’t do that.’ But it shows them that they can, if they persevere.”
Bikeability Scotland is a training scheme that teaches young students all the essentials of road cycling. Pupil support teacher Michael Brady, one of the Bikeability coordinators at Linwood, says the course has been “great for fitness and wellbeing.”
“We’ve had about 50 kids doing the course in the past year,” he said. “It’s great for building their confidence. Before they know it, they’re cycling 25 miles to Loch Lomond.
“There’s some pupils who won’t do PE, but they’ll happily do this. Give them a bike, and off they go - 50 miles, no problem.
“They get a meal of their choice at the end, to celebrate finishing the course. Normally that means McDonald’s - just to ruin all the hard work of cycling to Balloch.”
Anyone interested in getting involved with Bikeability Scotland is encouraged to visit the website at: https://cycling.scot/bikeability-scotland.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here