00:00My name's Neil Young. I'm CEO at St Paul's Youth Forum, which is based in Black Hill in the north
00:05east of Glasgow. As part of our more environmental aspect of our project, we've been working with
00:10bikes for the last 10 years. And now we have this culmination of a bike shop, which has added onto
00:18when we've been distributing free bikes around the north east. Over the last year and a half,
00:24we've distributed over 1,700 bikes to people in our area. This has enabled folks who can't afford
00:31the £3.10 bus fare into town to be able to get to work for free, to be able to improve their health
00:37and fitness, and to be able to improve their well-being. We've been working with the bike
00:43workshop in Barlinny for a number of years. They've been helping us build up and reclaim some bikes
00:50that have been put on the junk heap. Quite often though, some bikes are beyond what they would
00:55call economic worth. They're too expensive to be able to fix. So Beyond Bikes Cargo Bikes is a new
01:03initiative where we've taken some of the broken bits of bikes, and then the broken people who have
01:08been discarded by society into prison have put these two things together. And these guys have been able
01:15to create a brand new cargo bike, and so they've not only been able to transform the bikes, but
01:21transforming themselves. I'm Rick Baxter. I'm the active manager for On Bikes at St Paul's Shoe Forum.
01:27So the bikes are built within the prison, and between the metal fabrication workshop and the bike
01:33workshop. So the inmates are learning new skills, new technologies, obviously bike maintenance first
01:39of all, but also frame building and kind of repurposing old bikes into products you see today.
01:46What we're looking for from the project is to upskill the prisoners, to give them a qualification,
01:51to give them a new skill set which they don't normally have, and it's to looking at employability
01:55for these guys when they come out of prison. These kind of bikes can get used in other charities,
01:59other organisations. It's a cheap alternative to both for transport and raveling using a car.
02:05My name's Stuart Bell. I'm a prison officer. I've worked in HMP Berlin for 23 years, and I currently
02:12work in the bike workshop. We've been in partnership with St Paul's Shoe Forum for the last two years.
02:18So we currently employ between 14 and 16 prisoners. They vary from qualified car mechanics to guys that
02:28have maybe just shown an interest in cycling in the past. It gives guys the opportunity for purposeful
02:34activity. What I find is we get a much better relationship with the prisoners in the workshop
02:41environment, as opposed to the residential setting. You really do see a different side to them.
02:46It gives us the opportunity to get a bit more quality work done with them. They open up a lot more.
02:52They'll speak to you more about their family. They'll open up about any problems or issues that they might
02:59have. It gives us a chance to build a much better relationship with them.
03:05A sense of pride, yep. Certainly. I mean, some of the bikes that we take in, they're donations. Some of them
03:12are literally, they've been pulled out of the canal and they're a bit of a state. But the bikes are
03:18completely stripped down, refurbished. So the guys are basically following the process right through.
03:23I think it's a kind of pilot. I mean, we've, as I said, we've only been going for two years,
03:29but it's been successful. It's grown arms and legs. We started off probably putting maybe between 10
03:36and 15 bikes out on a weekly basis. We're now up to between 25 and 30. We're now branching out.
03:43We've got a metal fabrication workshop as well, who have made this bike in the background. They've
03:50made that from scratch and every part of the bike there is recycled. So that all comes from old bikes
03:57that were donated, that weren't fit for purpose. So it was kind of cut up and made into this bike.
04:05There's a lot of talented guys in there and it's good to give them the opportunity to show
04:12what they're capable of. The project is hugely significant because it ticks so many of the boxes.
04:17It's an impact on young people, training them how to use the bikes. And also really importantly,
04:21creating apprenticeship opportunities for young people to learn how to fix or repair the bikes.
04:26The health agenda, it's hugely important getting people active. And of course, the economic agenda,
04:32don't forget, because this is an economic entity. It makes money and then is able to put that money,
04:38the profits from this, which I understand when I'm talking about six-figure sum back into the community
04:43to support the other great work that's in Paul's youth forum.
04:46Paul's sort of rode around in my wheelchair. I've never had the opportunity to exercise.
04:53Met Dan and they were telling me they were setting up this bike thing and I asked them if they could
04:59find a bike for me. I think they sold their bike from Bellini and it's been referred to,
05:05so I like to suit my needs. So several times a week I'm able to come round and go cycling and do a
05:13little bit of exercise and otherwise I would have just been laying on my settee really doing nothing
05:19at all. I don't really saw work. So this has given me the opportunity. It's changed my life really
05:25because, you know, I met a lot of good people here and as I'm riding around, I've talked to a lot of
05:30people and I've got a new network of, you know, people that I know and people that I trust and I
05:36really enjoyed, you know, the chance to come out here and have a bike and ride around just like
05:42anybody else and, you know, it's really been helpful to me and my recovery. It's given me a lot
05:48of social activities to improve my wellbeing and I'm very grateful for this opportunity. Thank you.
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