Trinity girl Ada, 7, gets on her bike to raise awareness of clean air

Ada and her dad, Sandy Robertson, a consultant at Kirkcaldy's Victoria Hospital, joined over 30 local health workers in Dundee on Saturday as part of the Tayside Ride For Their Lives event.

They cycled 10 miles from Invergowrie to Monifieth, past Dundee’s famous V&A museum.

Ada said: ‘I’ve been cycling since I was three, and I started on a balance bike. It feels fun to whizz down the road and get the breeze in your face. Sometimes I cycle to school, and sometimes to the beach.

Trinity girl Ada Robertson, 7, at this weekend's Ride for Their Lives event

‘I do think more people should cycle, it’s good for the planet and it makes me feel good.’

Sandy said: ‘I’ve been at the Victoria in Kirkcaldy since January and I love it. It’s a busy, friendly hospital.

‘But we are on the frontline of how climate change is affecting our patients – when people are having asthma attacks due to bad air pollution, or if they have heatstroke.

‘Cycling is a good way to show all the benefits of action on climate change. While climate change is really scary, anything we can do to decarbonise society is a benefit for everyone. By cycling people will be healthier, they’ll be creating less pollution, and they won’t be heating up the world. It’s a win-win.

Ada and dad Sandy at this weekend's Ride for Their Lives event

‘When I talk to people who don’t cycle much they say it’s because they’re scared of traffic. Without further investment in that it’s going to be hard to get people out and about.

Sandy, who lives in Edinburgh’s Trinity and commutes to work each day, added: ‘We make sure we car share whenever we can – and I try and arrange times when some of us can cycle to and from the train station. I think schemes like bikes on prescription would be a really good idea.’

Ride for their Lives is an international movement of healthcare providers that inspires action on air pollution and the wider climate and nature crisis. Over 85 rides have been taken place across five continents since 2021.