Tower Hamlets Wheelers
NEWS RELEASE 1 April 2003
For immediate release
Ref THW10Workshop010403
John Biggs A.M. fixes his bike at new Wheelers Workshop
PHOTOS can be downloaded at http://www.towerhamletswheelers.org.uk/media/workshop/ but it would be great
if you could check that you can download them ok before deadlines get urgent
- we do Wheelers activities in our spare time and we cannot guarantee that
we'll always be available to help you with requests for pictures, due to
being at 'day jobs'!
John Biggs, GLA Assembly Member for East London and the City, and chair of
the GLA Transport Committee, opened the new Wheelers Workshop, hosted by the
Boxing Club (1) at Limehouse Town Hall on Saturday 29th March.
The Workshop is a self-help drop-in bicycle maintenance workshop where local
people can get help from friendly cyclists to fix their bikes, recycle old
bikes into new machines, take the opportunity to learn how bicycles work,
and use the space for cleaning and washing bikes - as over 80% of residents
in Tower Hamlets live in high-rise flats and may not have this space. It
runs on a donations basis, so donations are very welcome.
The Tower Hamlets Wheelers (2), who have teamed up with the Boxing Club to
run the facility, gave John's bike a check-over, oiling the chain and fixing
a small problem with the gears. John Biggs says:
"As well as learning how to fix your bike, this is a great opportunity to
recycle old bikes into rideable machines, encouraging more cycling which is
good for your health and the environment. Cycling is an even more attractive
form of transport now that central London has the £5 congestion charge,
which may be expanded to Tower Hamlets."
Saul Albert, member of the Boxing Club who coincidentally bumped into Peter
Steele, the man in charge of the old Wheelers Workshop (which had to close
some years ago), an event which led to the creation of the new Workshop,
says:
"We at the Boxing Club are glad that we can open up our workspace for local
people to fix their bicycles. Most who came along either got down to some
serious maintenance or simply got some niggling problems solved by asking
the advice of others - that's what it's all about."
If anyone has an old or abandoned bike which needs a new home, contact the
Tower Hamlets Wheelers and they may be able to take it off your hands, fix
it up and sell it at low cost to someone local who wishes to start cycling.
Wheelers are also running a 'bike buddy' scheme to complement these recycled
bikes, matching novice cyclists up with experienced cyclists to help find
quiet routes, fix punctures and general confidence-building. Again please
contact the Wheelers if you would like to be given a helping hand to get
back into cycling or to start afresh wheelers@towerhamletswheelers.org.uk.
Amongst the fourteen people who took the chance to borrow tools and
equipment to tinker with their bikes that afternoon was Mike Lennox, a
cyclist who came as far away as Edinburgh, dropping by as he was holidaying
with his family on a narrow boat in the nearby Limehouse basin and the Grand
Union Canal.
The Wheelers would like to thank Tower Hamlets council which has made the
Wheelers a grant, £100 of which will go directly towards more tools and
equipment for the Workshop. Wheelers are also applying for money from the
Department for Transport's Cycling Projects Fund and the Community Chest.
Wheelers would also like to thank Bicycle Magic in Whitechapel for agreeing
to supply parts at cost price.
ENDS
For more information please contact Wheelers Co-ordinator Owen Pearson owen@towerhamletswheelers.org.uk
Notes
(1) The Boxing Club is the home of art/film/media/event group Twenteenth
Century, of which Saul Albert is a member.
(2) The Tower Hamlets Wheelers is the local cycle action group in the east
London Borough of Tower Hamlets, campaigning for better cycling facilities
and encouraging more people to cycle Ð for health, the environment and for
London. The Wheelers are affiliated to the London Cycling Campaign, the
largest urban cycling campaign in the world.
Tower Hamlets Wheelers
wheelers@towerhamletswheelers.org.uk
www.towerhamletswheelers.org.uk
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