Care home residents enjoy trishaw tours of Christmas lights in Wick
Care home residents in Wick are being treated to evening tours of the town's Christmas lights – as passengers in a three-wheeled bike.
The initiative is being led by local cyclist George Ewing as part of the worldwide movement Cycling Without Age, which seeks to give elderly and disabled people access to the outdoors through trishaw rides.
The Wick festive runs got under way on Monday when Betty Ronaldson and Jean Matthews, residents at Riverside House care home, set out on an hour-long trip with George piloting the well-lit trishaw and fellow volunteer Yousuf El Shafei accompanying them on a conventional cycle.
George – who is captain of the Wick chapter of Cycling Without Age – was suitably attired in a Santa suit, while Yousuf was dressed as an elf.
On a dry, calm but chilly December night, the ladies stayed warm thanks to the trishaw's heated blankets.

Depending on the conditions, other tours could be slightly shorter.
“Over the next couple of weeks we'll be doing all three homes and trying to take them out whenever the weather permits," George explained.
“It's a Christmas lights run but they also really enjoy it in terms of just getting out in the fresh air and getting out in the evening.
“The pair of ladies that we had on Monday night, when we came down from Port Dunbar and came to the junction at Scalesburn, probably enjoyed seeing the lights of the town just as much as seeing the Christmas lights.”
Other volunteers will be joining in as the tours continue in the run-up to Christmas.
“We've got six of us at the moment and we've got a couple of volunteers in the pipeline,” George said.
He pointed out that the trishaw cost the best part of £10,000 when it was acquired in 2019.
Money was raised initially through Wick Wheelers cycling club, with funding coming from the Caithness Beatrice Community Fund and Dounreay Communities Fund as well as a grant from the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council.
“When we have been using it round the town over the last nine months or so, since Covid restrictions lifted that little bit more and we were allowed to do it, the drivers have been extremely courteous," George said.
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“We had it out five or six nights for the Northern Lights Festival [in October] and we used it through the summer quite a bit as well. We've probably done in the region of 50 or 60 runs, maybe slightly more, over the last nine months.”
George was pleased to report that Monday's outing got the seal of approval from the two Riverside residents.
He added: “I asked Jean, one of the ladies, how much she had enjoyed it and she said 'ten out of ten'.
"It was good fun and they were waving to everybody – the royal wave was going quite well, which was nice.”
More information on Cycling Without Age Wick can be found on Facebook.
The Cycling Without Age Scotland website is at cyclingwithoutage.scot