Festival celebrates Greenway milestones

At 12.30pm the completion of the Savile Town Link will be marked by a ribbon cutting with civic dignitaries and community members.

At 1pm there will be a meet and greet with the three Dewsbury heroes or their families who have been commemorated with the installation of the Portrait Bench.

The bench is an art installation celebrating cyclist Brian Robinson, the first Briton to complete the Tour de France, and win stages in the 1950s; paraplegic microlight pilot Dave Sykes; and Rugby league personality Eddie Waring.

The Portrait Bench can be accessed from Sands Lane, Dewsbury or Preston Street, Earlsheaton.

And at 1.30pm the Mayors of Kirklees and Wakefield, Couns Martyn Bolt and Brian Holmes will formally open the last section of the greenway between Station Road, Earlsheaton and the boundary with Wakefield.

The Dewsbury Cycle Fest, part of the Outdoor Dewsbury Festival, runs from 11am-3pm.

At the playing fields activities include a cycle treasure hunt, riding a raised wooden track and laps of the Sands Cycle Loop, bike handling skills, bike health checks, circus skills and pedal-powered “smoothie-makers”.

There is also a Bling your Wheels competition with prizes for the best decorated bike and a parade from Savile Town Recreation Ground to Savile Town Wharf – assemble with bikes and scooters by 12.15pm where the greenway path joins the Recreation Ground.

Events will also take place at Savile Town Wharf.

There are also four free led rides, of varying degrees of difficulty, leading to the Cycle Fest.

The first leaves Dewsbury Sports Centre at 11am (to book email [email protected]); there are two leaving Princess Mary Playing Fields, Liversedge, at 10am including a Breeze ride aimed at women and children (book online at www.goskyride.com/kirklees or www.goskyride.com/Breeze; and the fourth leaves Ossett Cricket and Athletics Club (www.goskyride.com/wakefield) at 10am.