St Nicholas Primary School in Beverley has opened a new library, but this one will not loan their pupils books; it will be loaning them bicycles.
John Marshall MBE from R-evolution and a former pupil of the school is keen on spreading the joy of cycling, and his new scheme ensures every child who wants to can have access to a bike.
Speaking to HU17.net Mr. Marshall said;
“Our goal is to get as many children as possible to take up cycling. Maybe one of these children will one day become an Olympic athlete or end up racing for Team Sky in the future.
“We want to get kids involved in cycling. It’s a great sport, with lots of benefits to the rider’s health and social well being.”
Set up 10 months ago the R-evolution is a charity that has received the backing and support of East Riding of Yorkshire Council and also Welcome to Yorkshire.
With the popularity of cycling growing in the region Mr. Marshall explained the reasons why is introducing a bike loaning system in the school.
He told HU17.net;
“Buying bikes for children can get expensive. If you have 3 or 4 children replacing bikes as they grow is a costly thing to do.”
“Any child from the school or those connected to the school through that child can loan a bike for a month for free.”
“By loaning bikes, if a child out grows it, they can return the bike and take a new one out that is the right size for them.”
R-evolution’s scheme certainly proved very popular at the school with ten bikes being snapped up in the morning alone. Mr. Marshall says they rely on donations to build their stock, he said;
“Getting bikes is really important to us. If you have old bikes and live in Beverley you can take them to Minster Cycles on Norwood. They collect them for us, and we can arrange to go there and pick them up.”
Old bikes that are donated are restored by the charity, Mr. Marshall said;
“We have a workshop in HMP Hull. We work with 15 lads in there who we are training so they can get qualifications and hopefully move away from crime into full-time employment.”
“To start with we have a lot of new bikes, but going forward we will be relying on people to donate us their old bikes, so we can restore them and increase the size of the fleet.”
