RECONDITIONED bicycles will be offered for sale during a community festival.
The Sustainable Blacon project ‘Recycle Your Cycle’ has been busy collecting more than 120 bikes that have been donated to the scheme with support from local residents, the Chester Cycling Campaign, CDHT and the Countess of Chester Hospital.
“The response so far has been fantastic,” said Stephen Perry, who is leading the project.
Blacon High School has provided workshop space in which the bikes have been repaired and caretaker Ken Bates has always been willing to meet the steady stream of Saturday morning volunteers, who have been carrying out the repair work.
The reconditioned bikes will be sold from 10.30am-3pm during the Blacon Festival which takes place on Saturday, July 7, at Blacon High School.
Organisers, Sustainable Blacon Ltd, hope the Recycle Your Cycle scheme will encourage as many people as possible to be green and swap four wheels for two.
Blacon High School HR manager Rachel Keating said: “We have been delighted to support such a worthwhile project. We are committed to working closely with all members of the Blacon community, and as the bikes will be sold at the Blacon Festival, to be held on our school grounds, repairing and storing the bikes on our site seemed the best solution.”
Ged Edwards, manager of Sustainable Blacon and leader of the Cheshire Furniture Reuse Forum, said: ”Almost everyone seems to have an unused bike in their garage or shed and the idea of getting bikes back into use seems to have universal appeal.
“It feels like such a win-win situation. We can provide access to cheap bikes for the family whose budget is squeezed and help them get to work. We can enable people to try out cycling before buying a brand new bike. We will save valuable resources from being scrapped and thereby help the environment.”
The Blacon Adventure Playground has also supported the scheme by supplying spare parts, along with the Bike Factory, in Boughton, which has provided technical advice and will be helping check the bikes on the day of the festival.
As well as offering reconditioned bikes for sale for the average cyclist, there will be a few vintage bikes in need of further attention which may well attract cycling enthusiasts.