Outreach
Recyke Y’Bike have many programmes and initiatives and a long standing commitment to working with our communities, details of which you can find below.
We are very happy to hear form you if you would like to become involved in any of our outreach programmes or initiatives.
Referral scheme
The bike referral scheme enables us to provide a free bike, helmet, lock and lights to schools, community groups and people on very low incomes living in Newcastle and Chester-Le-Street. Anyone on a low income can be referred in to us by a professional of any kind. We always have high demand for this service so the wait can be several months. For more information contact vanessa@recyke.bike
“The bike has made such a difference to X, he rides it every day to and from school and then goes on a bike ride every afternoon in school time and then again in the evening with his personal assistant. The rides are used as a tool to regulate his emotions and reduce his anxiety. After riding he returns to school and home calm and relaxed and therefore able to concentrate on the next task he needs to complete.”
Supported volunteering
Every Tuesday, we provide supported volunteering sessions to people seeking asylum and refugees. Here, they can learn how to build and fix a bike – starting from their own and then moving on to help us build referral bikes. The volunteers attending sessions have always been very enthusiastic and their help is gratefully appreciated. We have also seen that the sessions greatly help participants, providing an opportunity to be involved in useful activities and focus on something other than the worries and uncertainties they face. They also make for the beginning of a life within the larger community, allowing them to feel part of something with a real connection to place and people. To learn more about it, write to vanessa@recyke.bike.
Salvaging Project
Through the salvaging project, donated bikes which are not economically viable to refurbish are stripped for parts and whatever is possible to recycle is recycled. Bikes are stripped, tyres re-used or sent for recycling (thanks to Newcastle City Council for enabling us to access their tyre recycling facilities), parts, frames and wheels are cleaned and re-used or sent to the local metal recycling plant. Not only does this generate income which we can invest back into the charity; it also means that cyclists can buy good quality second hand parts at affordable prices, making cycling even more affordable. See a full report of this project here.
Young Volunteers Club
Our Saturday Young Volunteers Club is underway with supervised sessions running from 10am – 12pm and 12pm – 2pm. The aim is to engage with young people using bikes as the medium and then support them to grow their confidence, self-esteem and interpersonal skills alongside their mechanical skills. The popularity of the Young Volunteers Club is such that we now have a waiting list. If you are a young person or the parent or carer of a young person who’d like to get involved please fill in the Young People’s Application and Consent Form.
Pop-up in schools
Funding from LGA foundation enables us to run weekly bike repair workshops at Byker Primary School. These hands-on sessions are great for teaching children how to maintain their own bikes. Children receive a colouring poster and a bike book where they keep track of the new things they learn and occasionally we reach out to parents so they can bring their children’s bikes to be fixed by our team, creating wider benefit.
“I must say a huge thank you to the support you have provided to our school and community, both through the bike offers and the excellent club that you run weekly with pupils. Byker is lucky to have such community driven people as yourself and staff who make a difference to their lives. We value the wonderful partnership that we have with Recyke y’Bike and look forward to working with you for a long time.”
Street bike repair workshops – in partnership with Kids Kabin Newcastle and YMCA
During the street bike repair workshops, children work out what needs fixed, select and reuse spare parts, and learn how to use a variety of bike tools both confidently and safely. Not only do they develop new skills, but they work together to help each other. Kids are able to borrow toolkits to help them to put their learning into practice between sessions. Hundreds of bikes are fixed, saving families money, preventing bikes going to landfill unnecessarily, and helping more local children learn about re-use and recycling. Children are empowered to choose cycling more as an active, healthy, and environmentally-friendly way of getting around.
Women Only Sessions – Newcastle and Chester-Le-Street
Every last Tuesday of the month and every first Wednesday of the month, from 5:30 to 7pm, we deliver women only workshops in Newcastle and Chester-Le-Street respectively. The sessions are mostly unstructured with women dropping in with or without their bikes to ask questions, carry out their own repairs, learn from other women and feel more confident that they can deal with any issues that might occur when out riding. Sessions are delivered by our fantastic female volunteer mechanics whose enthusiasm is infectious! Participants have fed back: “Everyone is so friendly, not intimidating at all, which I worried it might be. Thank you so much!”
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