The first Pre-loved Bike Sale took place on Sunday (20 March) at Hyde's Bennett Street Youth Centre and was attended by cared for children and carers.

Tameside Council’s Population Health team, Participation team for Cared for Children, Youth Services and Community Safety are working in collaboration with Suez Recycling and Manchester Bike Kitchen Community Interest Company to offer a pre-loved bike sale in Tameside. 

The invitation only event gave cared for children the opportunity to test out refurbished bikes and purchase them at an affordable price. The bikes are reclaimed through donations and deposits at recycling centres across Greater Manchester. The bikes are then refurbished by Manchester Bike Kitchen’s trained mechanics at the Renew Hub in Trafford Park.

Executive Member for health, social care and population health, Councillor Eleanor Wills, attended the launch. 

She said: "The pre-loved bike sale is an excellent opportunity for every child to have access to a safe and affordable bike. The offer of a re-furbished bike enables barriers to be broken, giving children equal access and hopefully encouraging them to get outdoors and enjoy exercising.

"Not only is this a great initiative to give all children and their foster families better access to bikes, up-cycling bikes is also beneficial for the environment. Children outgrow their bikes quickly and they can easily and unnecessarily end up in a landfill, this scheme prevents that by giving them a new lease of life. Well done and thank you to everyone who has made this possible." 

Youth services were on hand to help the children test out the bikes, loan safety equipment and to introduce families to other local cycling sessions and facilities they offer in Tameside. Community Safety were also on site to offer advice on how to protect their bikes against theft. There was also the opportunity to sign their bikes up to the BikeRegister scheme, a scheme which reunites owners with lost or stolen bikes. 

Young people who are cared for spoke to elected members and asked for them to support all cared for children learning to cycle and having their own bike. This event was an opportunity for their voices to be heard and for action to be taken.

Councillor Bill Fairfoull, Tameside Council’s Deputy Executive Leader with responsibility for Children and Families, commented: "Every child loves to cycle and our Tameside Cared for Children are no different. This project will hopefully allow more of our children to experience cycling. It's a fantastic initiative and well done to all involved." 

In addition to improving health inequalities in Tameside, the pre-loved bike sale benefits the environment. Children outgrow bikes quickly and so many are sent to landfill unnecessarily or left to rust. This scheme repurposes bikes that children have outgrown, restoring and redistributing for another child to enjoy. The affordable price also means that parents or carers can upsize their child’s bike at a fraction of the cost.

Daniel Carolan, Regional Operations Manager, SUEZ recycling and recovery UK said, “We are delighted to be supporting the pre-loved bike sale with bikes donated by residents and repaired by our partners Manchester Bike Kitchen in our Renew Hub. We are looking to create an inclusive journey towards a circular economy with the Hub, as well as something that truly benefits the communities of Greater Manchester. We hope that the bikes today that have been given a new lease of life themselves help to do the same for the families involved.”

The launch of the pre-loved bike sale follows many requests from cared for children to have access to bikes. The council hopes this event will be the first of many pre-loved bike sales in Tameside.

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