THE official opening of the new Halwill Bike Track provided thanks to the hard work of Active Halwill took place on Saturday, June 22.

Active Halwill was set up in 2015 to provide the inhabitants of Halwill and surrounding parishes with recreational and leisure activities for all ages.

The new track was officially opened by Devon County Councillor for the Holsworthy Rural Ward Barry Parsons and former Torridge District Ward Councillor Zyg Gregorek.

Active Halwill operated on the land known as ‘Halwill Playing Field’ and registered as a Fields in Trust QEII Jubilee playing field, including the children’s play equipment and the playing surface. The land is held by the Halwill Parish Council on behalf of the community.

Since then a lot of work has been put in to provide the new surface for the Halwill Bike Track, which is already proving popular with local riders.

But this is just the beginning. The plan going forward for Active Halwill is to provide even more equipment tailored to all ages.

The existing children’s play equipment has reached the end of its design life and was always aimed at younger children, with nothing available for older children or adults. Active Halwill’s ambition now is to replace all the existing play equipment with inclusive play equipment and adult exercise facilities and build a multi use games area (MUGA) for a variety of sports.

Chair of Active Halwill Bob Piddington told the Post the bike track was already proving popular, with an unofficial opening having to be held a week ahead of schedule because the youngsters couldn’t wait to try it out: “It is getting used a lot already. We had to open early because the kids were eager to get on the track.”

Speaking about the overall project, Bob said: “This is just the first step of a bigger scheme for Halwill. We hope to bring other activities for teenagers and adults like tennis and netball courts as Halwill is known for its football but not a lot else and we want to encourage local people to take up these other activities.

“But first we wanted to provide something for the older children — and adults, there isn’t really an age limit on the track — as there is currently only play equipment for younger children, which we also hope to replace in the future.

“A small group of us went out and after discussions with local teenagers and young people identified that a bike track was something they would be interested in using. We approached various councils and got the necessary funding together.

Bob added: “I would like to thank Devon County councillor Barry and Torridge councillor at the time, Zyggy for providing some of the funding to get this off the ground and to Halwill Parish Council for the site.”