Hannah Bryan meets the staff and volunteers behind Bike Stop, a social enterprise designed to improve cycling opportunities in the region

EVEN if you don’t know your brakes from your brackets, it’s hard not to get a little excited about cycling when you step through the door of Bike Stop.

Despite not being a keen cyclist, even the next Archbishop of Canterbury, the Right Reverend Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, could not hide his enthusiasm for the shop at its official opening this month.

Nestled away in Skinnergate, Darlington, the social enterprise is a hub for cycling, providing bike maintenance services for customers, as well as restoring old bikes and selling them on at a reduced price.

However, it also helps people who are homeless or suffering other hardships learn how to make and fix bikes to allow them get back into work.

The Northern Echo:
The Bike Stop premises on Skinnergate, in Darlington

It started in 2010, with an idea from Tracy Freeman, the charismatic manager of homeless charity First Stop Darlington.

She said: “My daughter wanted a vintage bike for Christmas to take to university and we could not find the exact thing she wanted anywhere.

“Then a worker at First Stop who loved bikes said he would make her one from an old bike frame he had, so he did, and it was absolutely brilliant. I thought we have got to do something with talent like this and spoke to a trustee about it.”

With the help of Darlington borough councillor Alan Coultas, and Jake Tompkins – now directors of Bike Stop – the idea began to take shape.

THEIR proposal was awarded funding by the Northern Rock Foundation and a shop in Skinnergate was provided by the Abbeyfields Society housing charity.

Ms Freeman said: “It was fantastic. Everybody seemed to want to help us, although the following months were really hard and there was a lot of late nights spent working to get Bike Stop ready to open.

“Now I look back and think it is all completely worth it.”

Since opening in November last year, Bike Stop has taken on experienced bike mechanic Duncan Buckingham, who checks every bike to leave the shop for safety, and retail manager Sandra Bell to ensure the project runs as a successful business as well as a social enterprise.

It has also recruited nine volunteers who help on the shop floor or fix bikes whenever they can.

Jonathan Young, 25, is a self-employed illustrator and volunteers one-and-a-half days a week.

He said: “I am just trying to help in any way that I can. I saw the sign on the door when they were advertising for volunteers, rang them up and started coming in.

“I have had a bike for years and fiddled with it at home, but never knew how to do things properly. Here they teach you so much and it is just a lovely thing to do. I look forward to coming here.”

Currently working alongside the volunteers and paid staff are two clients from First Stop.

While many of the people supported by the charity have come from troubled backgrounds, been homeless, or suffered from mental health problems and addictions, the staff at Bike Stop only see willing trainees who want to learn about bicycles.

Ms Freeman said: “At Bike Stop they are not a homeless person, they are just like any other volunteer working on a bike. While some of the volunteers and First Stop clients might not have much in common within their everyday life, put a bike between them and the result is amazing.

“They talk to each other, have a laugh and I don’t even have to introduce them to each other – they do it themselves.

“I never realised just how bikes could bring people together and make such a difference.”

To ensure First Stop clients who might not be ready for full-time volunteering have a chance to work on a bike, the charity runs an Earn a Bike scheme, where clients can take part in sessions and work on a bike for themselves, and another for Bike Stop to sell to a customer.

Since November, the shop has sold 80 bikes and recycled more than 100.

It is run by enthusiasts, both paid and volunteers, and their love of cycling has inspired dozens of people to get on a bike and is providing vulnerable people with a lifeline back into society.

Ms Freeman said: “We are doing things differently at Bike Stop.

“Although one thing is for sure, it is definitely a lot of fun up there.”

For more information or to volunteer at Bike Stop, call into the shop at 31 Skinnergate, Darlington.