Party on the path celebrates new cycleway

A 'party on the path' is being held this weekend (January 30) to celebrate the opening of a cycle way in Dorset.

Cyclists, residents and walkers will gather at Toller Porcorum Village Hall on Saturday to mark the opening of the Maiden Newton to Bridport Trailway.

Local residents, walkers and cyclists in Dorset are gearing up to celebrate the development of the Maiden Newton to Bridport Trailway at a 'Party on the Path' event at Toller Porcorum Village Hall on Saturday 30 January.

Led by sustainable transport charity, Sustrans, the Maiden Newton-Bridport Trailway will follow the disused route of the old Bridport branch railway, offering a 10-mile traffic-free path for the benefit of walkers, cyclists and wheelchair users. Whilst serving two towns and several villages, the path will also act as a traffic-free gateway to the Jurassic Coast, encouraging green tourism.

The Party on the Path event will give local people the chance to walk part of the route from Toller Porcorum to Powerstock Common. There will also be a number of activities in the Village Hall including flag-making and wheel-weaving with Treewise, smoothie-making by pedal-power, and musical entertainment from Magnificent Revolution.

The event has been organised to reveal the lucky winners drawn from a raffle which has helped boost funding for the Trailway project. The raffle has given members of the public the chance to win a hand-built bike worth £2000, bike shop vouchers and cash prizes.

Peter Henshaw of Sustrans said: "Party on the Path will be an exciting event for people of all ages to get together and celebrate the fantastic progress which has been made towards the Trailway development.

"The support we have received through the raffle from members of the local community and beyond has really helped to bring the development one step closer to completion. Now we're heading towards the exciting stage of revealing who the winners are and we are looking forward to seeing some very happy faces at the event on Saturday."

* Party on the Path starts at 1.30pm outside Toller Porcorum Village Hall. Malcolm Shepherd, Chief Executive of Sustrans, will draw the first raffle prize at 4pm.