Royal Navy Supports Social enterprise Bicycle Recycling at Naval Base in Portsmouth
Today marks the official opening of the Naval Base Cycle Hub inside HM Naval Base Portsmouth. The event coincides with the Elite Matrix Race Series and Professional Pearl Izumi cycle race happening in Portsmouth. 2 Elite riders from top ladies team WNT, Lydia Boylan current Irish Road Race Champion and Hannah Walker British Cycling North West Champion, spoke of their love for cycling and pleasure at seeing both the Navy and the city of Portsmouth embrace all forms of cycling. [photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000HCzlJyXOP5Y” g_name=”Bike-Hub-Opens-HMS-Nelson” width=”800″ f_fullscreen=”t” bgtrans=”t” pho_credit=”iptc” twoup=”f” f_bbar=”t” f_bbarbig=”f” fsvis=”f” f_show_caption=”t” crop=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_l=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_show_slidenum=”t” f_topbar=”f” f_show_watermark=”t” img_title=”casc” linkdest=”c” trans=”xfade” target=”_self” tbs=”5000″ f_link=”t” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”t” f_ap=”t” f_up=”f” height=”400″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCC” ] Hannah and Lydia, joined by Base Executive Officer Commander Andy Green and Charlie Adie Director of Bicycle Recycling and CEO of Motiv8, then cut the ribbon to official open the Naval Base Cycle Hub in front of members of the Royal Navy, Bicycle Recycling and Motiv8. This new joint venue between the Royal Navy and social enterprise Bicycle Recycling, is to encourage cycling and sustainable travel among the 14,000 men and women that live and work within the Naval Base. In addition it promotes the health benefits of cycling. The new Cycle Hub is brain child of Commander Andy Green and is the culmination of 2 years preparation working with Bicycle Recycling’s Charlie Adie to ensure that the venture exceeds customer expectations and is established in a way that it can be long term sustainable. ‘We’ve been delighted with the level of business seen in the Cycle Hub since opening the doors in April 2016.’ said Charlie Adie, Director of Bicycle Recycling and CEO of youth charity Motiv8 ‘the Navy are a great partner to work with and it is fantastic that they are encouraging cycling in this way which benefits everyone plus creates jobs for local young people.’ Bicycle Recycling has experience running Cycle Hubs, having opened its first shop by the Gosport Ferry in 2012 and then the Community Cycle Hub on Winston Churchill Avenue in 2014. Each venue delivers 4 core offers: Servicing & Repairs, Recycling & Sales, Maintenance Training and Bike Hire. The bikes sold have previously been donated and are fully refurbished and come with a 3 month warranty, and those that cannot be resold in the UK are either shipped to Africa or stripped for parts – with everything being responsibly recycled. Bicycle Recycling is a social enterprise wholly owned by youth charity Motiv8, as such any profits go straight back to the charity benefiting local young people. In addition Bicycle Recycling provides training and jobs for young people through Work Experience, Bike Maintenance Academy run in partnership with Highbury College, Traineeships and Apprenticeships.
