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January 18, 2010
Wulvern supports Community Bike Shop

Local affordable housing provider, Wulvern has given its support to a newly opened Community Bike Shop based in the heart of one of their estates on Coronation Crescent, Crewe. 

A £10,000 community investment grant from Wulvern has provided premises, mobile workshop, overalls, tools and a storage unit for the social enterprise which is managed by the Excellence in Crewe Partnership.

The Community Bike Shop is run by young people referred from local schools, and, under the guidance of qualified bike mechanics, offers a range of services including; repairs, sales of refurbished second hand bikes and parts, bike re-cycling and cycle training courses.  In addition, the shop plans to offer “fix it yourself” style sessions for people who want to use the workshop facilities to repair their own bike.

The scheme enables young people to develop technical and social skills, helping to build confidence within the context of a work environment over a six week programme.

Youth worker and bike mechanic, Dave Southern said “Thanks to the investment from Wulvern, young people are being given an excellent opportunity to find out, first hand, what it is like to run a business, at the same time learning how to repair, maintain and ride a bike safely”.

Dave adds:  “We aim to tackle environmental issues by getting more people cycling and make cycling as green as possible by recycling and refurbishing used and abandoned bikes.  Refurbished bikes are used by the Community Bike Shop, given away to community groups or sold on at affordable prices to the community.  All the profits from the business will be put back into the work that Excellence in Crewe Partnership do with young people throughout Crewe”.

Wulvern’s Director of Partnerships, Rob Allen commented:  “The Social Enterprise for young people is key to our plans of making the Maw Green area of Crewe a great place to live. It is really important that we do our bit to give young people a chance to learn new skills that will help them in the future. This project also helps us to reduce our carbon footprint so it is great news for the environment and for the young people of Crewe”.

The Community Bike Shop is open to the public at 1 Coronation Crescent, Crewe and is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 1pm until 5pm and Friday 9.30am until 12:30pm.

If you would like to donate an unwanted bike please call into the shop or phone 01270 583019 to arrange free collection.