The Bikes 4 All re-launch event is taking place this Friday 23rd May 2008. 

The event starts at 2.00pm from the Queen Street premises.

Bikes 4 All re-launch

It is nearly four years since Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire launched Bikes 4 All, thanks to Neighbourhood Renewal Funding (NRF) through Leicester City Council.

In that time, Bikes 4 All has developed into the UK's largest bike recycling social enterprise, recycling over five thousand bikes per year. Many of these are returned to use, providing quality low cost bikes to the people of Leicester and Leicestershire.

But we didn't stop there! We now provide cycle maintenance training to schools, colleges and 16 -19 year olds who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). 

In addition we run an Entry to Employment (e2e) programme working closely with partners to ensure young people are equipped with the skills and knowledge to gain employment or further education.

And, since we were on a roll, we decided to provide a way for the young people to get more involved by launching Freewheels, a constituted group that engages young people in cycling activities.

In the first year of Freewheels, we secured a mobile workshop that tours the City and County providing bike repairs and sales for our customers and work experience for our young people.

All of this extra work meant that we had outgrown our previous address in Rosebery Street, and in November 2007 we moved to Queen Street.

These new premises offer us the space and opportunities for Bikes 4 All to really flourish and provide an ever-expanding list of cycle related activities for all.

The Bikes 4 All team have worked tirelessly to get the new workshop and training facilities up and running and the finishing touches have been now been added to the site with a fantastic new cycle mural. 

Bikes 4 All have commissioned local community artist, Kirsty Whitrow, to create a mural which reflects Leicester's diverse cycling community.

It will bring a refreshing splash of colour to the landscape in its depiction of cyclists of all ages and from all backgrounds.

The cyclists are pedalling happily on a variety of different shapes and sizes of bikes, set against a background of local landmarks that include Groundwork's EcoHouse, West Bridge, the Leicester Mercury Building and Leicester Station.    

To celebrate the new site and completion of the mural, Bikes 4 All will be holding a relaunch event on 23rd May  which will include cycle maintenance demonstrations and an opportunity to see the mobile cycle workshop.

We are delighted that the Lord Mayor has agreed to attend the event and will be cutting a ribbon to officially mark the occasion and the completion of the new mural.

For information contact Tim Hudson on 0116 222  0048