Our Welcome Ways project supports people seeking asylum, refugees and other people in need with free cycles, weekly bike repair sessions and led rides on the Trans Pennine Trail. Our project brings not just physical benefits but also an opportunity to boost happiness, improve language skills and make connections.
Having access to a cycle can open up volunteering, learning and working opportunities. Pictured: Welcome Ways led ride participants, Adel (left) and Mohammed. Credit: Alex Simon
Having access to a cycle can be life-changing.
It can open up a world of volunteering, learning and working opportunities.
But not everyone has access to a cycle.
Things like affordability and storage issues can be barriers for people.
Our Welcome Ways project supports refugees, asylum seekers and other people in need with free cycles for led rides and to keep afterwards too.
Sustrans volunteers, Alex and Frank, who work with local organisations to meet and support new arrivals, together have refurbished over 400 cycles and distributed them to people in need in Barnsley.
Alex and Frank worked with Emma, a Sustrans project officer, to bring Welcome Ways to life and to help diversify users of the Network.
The aim of the led rides, on the Trans Pennine Trail, is to increase cycling confidence, social connections, and to introduce people to places in their local area.
Adel, a Welcome Ways led ride participant
I am very happy and thankful for the rides. It’s a great experience and I enjoy the lovely scenery.
It’s good exercise and I like keeping fit. I enjoy meeting new people and it helps me with my language skills.
Connecting people through cycling
Welcome Ways, led entirely by volunteers, is a shining example of how we can create a positive impact within communities when we link with passionate volunteers who are already working in an area.
Alex said:
“Some of the participants aren’t able to work - they’re not allowed to because of government policy.
"It’s good that our new friends participate in the rides for their own mental and physical health, and for the development of their own language skills and sense of community.
“The future plans are to have the refugees actively engaged in the development of the programme in order to support their employability skills and to champion the longevity of the project.”
Creating volunteering opportunities
National Lottery funding has secured the group a workshop in Barnsley town centre which hosts four cycle workstations and tools – allowing the group to put on weekly bike repair sessions.
The workshop has been popular with the refugees, who with the help of volunteer bike mechanics, are renovating cycles – providing skills for life and building new friendships along the way.
For a large majority of those seeking asylum in the UK, before they are granted refugee status, they do not have the right to work in paid employment.
This is unless their job is on the ‘Shortage Occupation List’, or if they were in the UK on a student visa when they submitted their asylum claim.
Despite not being able to work, while waiting to hear back on their asylum claim, they can volunteer.
Alex thinks with this now in place, the group will be able to double the number of bikes being repaired and distributed each month – which goes hand in hand with the increasing number of referrals coming in.
Frank (Left) and Simon set up Welcome Ways in collaboration with Sustrans. Credit: Alex Simon
Alex continued:
“We’ve taken friends to places that they didn’t know existed. Some were unaware of the Trans Pennine Trail and the local integrated cycle network.
“The ability to cycle on the Trans Pennine Trail and other local cycle routes has been wonderful for our collective mental and physical health.
“Bringing people together, enjoying a meal en route and sharing our thoughts and ideas is an uplifting experience for the whole group.
“We’re now finding that our new friends are using their local Sustrans routes in their own leisure time and discovering new routes across the Borough.”
The project is generously supported by organisations like the Refugee Council, Penistone Refugee, local trade unions and Asylum Seeker Support Network.
How can I get involved?
To get involved in this project email the team: penistonebikedonations@outlook.com
