Path to true love

12:00pm Sunday 6th July 2008

Comments (7)   Have your say »

ECO-DATING is coming soon to a cycle track near you.

The venture by the York-based BCTV conservation charity is a form of speed-dating for green singles who want to meet people with similar interests while also working on an environmental project.

Speed-dating originated in the United States as a way for busy singles to meet a new partner. A large group of single people typically meet in a bar or club, pair off and chat for just a few minutes before they move on to the next person for another quick-fire “date”.

Eco-dating seeks to ensure the environment is helped at the same time. The trust staged the world’s first eco-dating hedge planting exercise on Bootham Stray on Valentine’s Day earlier this year. It said today it was a success, with one couple – and the hedge – still going strong. Now it is staging another session on a York cycle track later this month, giving singles a chance to improve the habitat and also find a partner at the same time.

Participants will be given ten minutes to chat while they work alongside each other, before a bell rings and they move on to the next “date”.

A spokeswoman said that the event, held over the weekend of July 26 and 27, along a stretch of Sustrans’ Route 66 cycle track between Wigginton Road and the back of Melrosegate, is aimed at single people aged over 20.

She said: “Participants have a short introduction on how to use the tools and equipment for the environmental project and will then be divided up into pairs.

“They will then have ten minutes with each other giving them enough time to chat to their date whilst helping the environment.