Brightening up the National Cycle Network

The Green Shop is sponsoring Sustans "Paint a Milepost" competition. At least 100 schools are expected to enter and The Green Shop will be providing a range of Green Paints Gloss for each school to paint a milepost on the National Cycle Network. The winning school will receive a visit from BBC celebrity historian and scientist Adam Hart- Davies.

The two-metre-high cast iron mileposts are dotted along the 7,000 miles of the National Cycle Network routes and schools within easy reach (1-2kms) have been invited to enter.

Emma Keegan of Sustrans explains "Mileposts are usually black but this competition gives school children the opportunity to decorate a local one in beautiful colours. We selected Green Paints because they are environmentally and child-friendly."

There's also lots of scope to link the milepost painting to classroom activities. Worksheets are provided covering the benefits of cycling and linking the National Cycle Network to geography and local history topics in the National Curriculum for year 6/7 pupils.

Lynn Edwards the natural paint expert at The Green Shop shop says "We were delighted to help out with this project. Most of us here are keen cyclists and really appreciate what Sustrans has done to encourage cycling. We support the principle of low impact sustainable transport and anything that gets peope out of cars and onto bikes must be a good thing."

"We also hope the children taking part in the competiton will learn that Green Paints are a bit different. Because they're based on soya oil and not petrochemicals they're much better for the environment that most other gloss paints. Like the petrol engine many modern plastics and paints are based on fossile fuels. By the time these children grow up we'll need to be using far more sustainable sources of oils." she added.

Green Paints external gloss is also very hard wearing having come best on test in Which Magazine long term trial. This makes it ideal for the mileposts as they wont need to be repainted for years.

The milepost shown on the right has been painted to emphasise the fossil imagary that shows the passage of time from early life forms to the demise of fossile fuel technology - an event that is predicted to occur within the lifetimes of the school children taking part in this competition.

For more information on the National Cycle Network visit Sustans website: www.sustrans.co.uk

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