It’s set to be a special year for a Stirling-based charity with the aim of relieving poverty and providing key skills through access to bikes.
Recyke-a-bike, formerly known as Fallin Community Enterprises when it was first set up in 2005, has now moved its operations to a base in Causewayhead – where locals are given the opportunity to purchase recycled and re-purposed bikes at lower prices.
In addition to the initial recycling social enterprise, the charity has now grown to provide several key projects, including visiting schools to deliver ‘bikeability’ sessions and also offering key bike mechanic and retail training.
As part of its recycling ethos, Recyke-a-bike offer the opportunity for people in the region to hire regular and e-bikes for free for up to 25 days to improve active travel and cut down on people buying bikes and throwing them away.
The charity’s operations manager Ella Brakefield – who has been working there for three years after leaving a previous corporate job – says its ethos has remained the same over its two decades as the projects it runs continues to grow.
Ella said: “The whole premise of the charity being set up in Fallin was that it was a mining town with high levels of unemployment so it was a chance to upskill people working in the shop and keep things running with the sales.
“We’re now offering everything from bike sales and repairs to working in the primary schools across Stirling and Clackmannanshire delivering training and even our ‘inspire-a’ride’ programme to provide various skills to help with education or further work.
“A key focus we have had throughout is accessibility and inclusivity, we’re interested in how many people we can get cycling with confidence – whether they need it for transport everywhere or even just to go to their uni accommodation or to the shops.
“Another part of what we do now is provide access to bikes, we’ve given away around 250 bikes this year, mainly to families in high deprivation areas or a lot of our work is new Scots fleeing from war-torn countries.
“It helps them get out in the area more and gain more confidence, getting them out to college for English lessons or whatever they need it for.
“One story is a girl who went out on one of our ‘side-by-side’ bikes – she was selectively mute but by the end of the ride, she was singing on the bike, which was just a lovely feeling.”
Ella is full of praise for the 27 staff members going “above and beyond their job descriptions” to keep on top of the charity’s various initiatives and also reflected on the most challenging period in its history during the Covid pandemic.
“The pandemic was a massive change for us, as it was for everyone”, Ella added.
“We all had to shuffle around in the shop and keep our distance and it just seems mad that it was all the norm. All we ran was the shop and some of the outreach ran in bubbles, but it’s just night and day compared to what we’re offering now and I think the service has really grown since coming out of the other side.
Dunblane and Bridge of Allan councillor Alasdair Tollemache has been close to the charity since its inception in 2005 and helped to open its initial home in Fallin a year later.
He offered his own tribute to its efforts, saying: “Kerry MacPhee who has just won the Strathpuffer 24 hour mountain bike endurance race brought her first bike from me whilst she was a student at the university.
“Recyke-a-bike has a special place in my life, working with the community in Fallin and my colleagues in different parts of the council, the idea was conceived in 2004 and formalised in 2005.
“Of the different aspects of my working life, the creation of Recyke-a-bike has given me the most pleasure. It’s contribution in terms of re-use of bikes, training programmes, employment and volunteering continues to inspire myself and others.
“I am so pleased to be part of this story and wish the board, the staff and the volunteers of Recyke-a-bike many, many more anniversaries.”