Collaborating with a local women's refuge, volunteers from Moorlands Climate Action, the County Council's Waste Minimisation Project Officer, Gemma Wall, and Paulette Upton from Cheadle Town Council, I pulled together a basic bike maintenance and repair session which took place at Tean Road Rec in Cheadle on Saturday morning, 5th July.
Several young people from the refuge, who were keen to get involved and wanted a bike of their own, were invited along to the session where they engaged with the volunteers from Moorlands Climate Action during the workshop, which showed them some basic bike maintenance and repair skills. The young people each chose a bike that had been sourced by Gemma and her team from local recycling centres. They then worked on their chosen bike with the volunteers.
The idea for the workshop was to provide reclaimed bikes to people who need them, get more people cycling for better physical and mental health outcomes and give those engaging with the session some basic bike maintenance and repair knowledge that they could take away with them into the future.
All the bikes used on the day came from local recycling centres and were delivered to the rec ahead of the session by Gemma, who also provided helmets and lights as part of the project. One of the participants couldn't even ride a bike before Saturday so it was amazing to see him cycling around on his own bike after working on it with MCA volunteers Dave and Dan.
In total, seven children and young people from the refuge received a bike of their own, all for free. Paulette from Cheadle Town Council put up the gazebo for the event and provided tea, coffee, water and biscuits, which had been kindly donated by Morrisons supermarket in the town. It was a great team effort on the day with the beneficial impacts of improving local health inequalities and promoting positive environmental practices.