Waste firm helps workshop with re-cycling

A social enterprise that refurbishes bikes to resale has secured an agreement with a waste management company to supply unwanted cycles.

The Julian House Trowbridge Bike Workshop has signed a deal with Chippenham-based MJ Church to supply bikes from its recycling waste management stations.

The social enterprise, which opened in 2014, has been looking to find regular sources of used bikes and M J Church has become the first waste recycling firm in Wiltshire to agree to supply bikes.

Mike Sharratt, manager of the Trowbridge Bike Workshop, said: “We are delighted that M J Church has agreed to gather its bikes at its waste management stations in Wiltshire so that we can refurbish and sell them on to customers interested in buying older, less expensive bikes.”

The Julian House Bike Workshops run the Build-a-Bike scheme, a six-week course that gives a rewarding, hands-on introduction to bicycle maintenance.

The course is delivered by experienced and qualified mechanics and provides participants with the opportunity to be active, learn a new skill, try something new, build their self-confidence and gain a sense of achievement, as well as to begin to build work-related skills such as time-keeping, team working and problem solving.

On completion participants will have completely dismantled and built their own bike from scratch. This bike is then theirs to keep, along with an AQA certificate and a portfolio record of their hard work.

Jayne Hobbs, customer service manager at M J Church, based at the firm’s Chippenham waste management station, said: ”As a recycling firm we believe in finding a home for anything that can be recycled, so we are more than happy to work with the Trowbridge Bike Workshop.

“We know that the bikes we gather will be used to help the homeless and long-term unemployed people on the Bike Workshop’s Build-a-Bike scheme to get back on their feet, and gain confidence and work experience.”

The Trowbridge Bike Workshop sells new and refurbished bikes, providing servicing, repairs and maintenance services, customisations, parts and accessories, volunteering opportunities, and maintenance courses. It largely attracts custom from West Wiltshire and further afield in North Wiltshire and the Kennet area.

Julian House provides over 100 beds across its emergency hostel and various supported housing projects and direct support to more than 220 vulnerable individuals.

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