2014

Added: 13th June 2021

NEW GRANT RECEIVED
OCTOBER 2014

Many thanks to the Noel Buxton Trust for awarding Margaret Carey Foundation a grant of £2000.

This is much appreciated and will help towards meeting our prison project costs.

MCF BIKES GET DROPOUTS BACK TO SCHOOL
JUNE 2014

Trainees at Lindholme and Everthorpe prisons are influencing high school dropouts in Ghana to go back to school.

The men in our prison workshops have been working hard to restore hundreds of bikes for the Avenues Bicycle Project, who ship the bikes from their base in Hull to communities in need overseas.

A shipment of more than 200 bikes are now being distributed in villages near the Ghana-Togo boundary.

Children who trek long distances to school are top on the list for one of the bikes, all of which are in top working order. One of those who rushed to get registered for a bike was 14-year-old Anita Adjei who quit school two months ago. The form 1 student said, “I asked my father to buy me a bicycle but, he says he has no money, I get tired walking for about 5 miles every day and have lost interest in education.”

At Bodada DA Junior High School in the same district, Haruna Issah 19, a form 2 student had also returned to register after quitting for one term.

Its not just the students – a number of teachers who walk long distances to the school have put in for transfers. Now they have bikes they are reconsidering their request to transfer.

Chris Jarrell, Project Coordinator at Avenue Bicycle Project, thanked the prisoners for their work. “These stories reinforce how important the bicycle recycling work you are all involved in is to people living, working and studying in Ghana.”

“IT’S A PRIVILEGE TO BE PART OF THIS PROJECT” – ‘COLIN’S’ STORY AT HMP KIRKHAM
JANUARY 2014

What’s it really like for the men who work on our projects in prison? “Colin” is a 38-year-old single male prisoner who was originally serving his sentence at HMP Haverigg where he trained in our bike workshop. He was transferred to HMP Kirkham, a Category D (or “open”) prison in Lancashire, to serve the remainder of his sentence just after we opened a new bike project there. He is due for release in May 2014.

Our Technical Support Officer says that Colin has built up his bike repair skills and is working to a very high standard. He provides peer support, helping other participants in the workshop at Kirkham. The prison instructors have given him additional responsibilities to identify and log the parts needed by the workshop.

Colin served a custodial sentence for drug offences on a number of occasions and is separated from his three children who live with other family members. He now says he wants to move away from his offending behaviour and start a new, crime-free life. To help him achieve his ambition, we are supporting him to undertake additional training on the Velotech cycle repair and maintenance course through a day release programme. Colin hope to achieve the Gold level of accreditation which will be recognised by potential employers.

We are also in discussions with the prison to enable him to relocate to Northumberland when he is released. He has expressed an interest in volunteering and working in our Northumberland Community projects that currently in development and hopes he will be able to re-connect to his family in the North East.

But for now, he’s working hard to restore old bicycles for people in need and to build up his skills.

“It makes you feel good to do this – it makes me feel like I want to get up and come to work.”

“The project is brilliant – it makes you realise how bad things are for some people and I like that someone else is getting something because of what I do – it’s a privilege to be part of it.”