Welcome to Nienke

We are delighted to Welcome Nienke Kramer to Beyond Limits who has recently joined us a team leader working in Ricky’s team.

Originally from Holland, Nienke is well travelled having spent time in the Balkans, Sri Lanka and Burundi and she had a job working in a refugee camp in Macedonia. Interestingly this was where she met her husband, who happened to be working in the same camp. When the time came to settle down, he already had a home in Plymouth and so where better to live than the Ocean City. Nienke and her husband now reside in the Mutley area of Plymouth.

Once settled in Plymouth Nienke retained as a teacher, teaching secondary school kids French and German. Nienke said, “initially it was a great job and we used to have a lot of fun thinking of really creative ways to teach these languages”. However, as time went on Nienke became more and more disillusioned with the systems, the rigidity of teaching and she felt she needed a real change. She saw the advert for a Team Leader at Beyond Limits which a friend of hers had shared on Facebook. Luckily for us she applied and was interviewed within the week, however her school wouldn’t release her and so we had to wait a while before she could join us.

Fast forward and we are pleased to report that Nienke is loving life as Ricky’s team leader. She joins a relatively new team as well but reports that things are going great. She has a team full of enthusiasm, a diverse mixed group who all have positive contributions to make.

As well as a busy work life, Nienke has another passion, she is a bit of an eco-warrior. Committed to limiting her impact on the environment, she can be seen regularly cycling to work and she is keen to spread the word and get more people on their bikes. A secondary school that her son used to attend recently set up a mountain bike club and Nienke is teaching children there about bike safety.

Nienke is keen to stress you don’t need a lot of equipment to get out cycling, a decent helmet and maybe a waterproof jacket. Cycling is good for our physical and mental health and Nienke is happy to teach some bike skills to people who are new to cycling or who haven’t cycled in a while. She also advises there is no need to be cycling on busy main roads and she can show people some safe routes if people are feeling anxious about cycling in traffic. If you want to explore any of this with Nienke directly, drop her an email at Nienke.kramer@beyondlimits-uk.org

If you have a bike that you haven’t been on in a while and it maybe needs some TLC, check out Bike Space Plymouth Bikespace CIC – MOMENTUM FOR THE PEOPLE – Bikespace – Home they offer a range of services and activities all aimed at supporting us to get on our bikes.

You can also check Plymotion Plymotion | PLYMOUTH.GOV.UK a great informational website that gives details on cycle hire and cycling routes as well as a range of other useful information.

It only leaves us to say, thanks to Nienke for sharing her story, now get out there and get on your bikes.