A CREWE church is providing refugees with their wheels of freedom after launching a bike donation scheme.

Hope Church in Derrington Avenue has been supporting refugees with donated food, paperwork support and language lessons to help them settle into the area.

Since 2018 it has run support sessions for asylum seekers and refugees at Hope Cafe on Wednesday mornings.

But some of the refugees have no funds for travel, so the church has started working with volunteers to provide them with their own transport.

The first bikes have been collected from local donors and repaired by Co-op Member Pioneer and local cycling champion Ben Wye, who is also teaching the new riders basic road safety and the Highway Code. 

Ben's colleague, Alison Wright, collected nine bikes from the Holmes Chapel and Congleton area. While borough leisure company Everybody Health & Leisure provided funding for basic repair parts and tools to make the bikes road ready.

The company has also donated helmets, high vis jackets and bike locks.

One of the refugees, Fereydoon, is an experienced mechanic who hopes to set up his own business. He has been repairing the donated bikes for the other refugees and has been teaching them basic maintenance skills.

Ben said: "It has been heart-warming to see people who have escaped desperate circumstances being able to travel happily and safely around the town.

"I am especially grateful to Fereydoon who this week alone has repaired nine bikes in three days."

The donated bikes have been repaired at Hope Church.

Director of Health and Communities at Everybody Health and Leisure Kerry Shea said: "We were happy to be able to support refugees in Crewe by donating bike essentials as part of this very important community project.

"We are delighted to play our small part in a much bigger project that Ben has pulled together to ensure that they can travel safely around our town."

Hope Church Pastor Phil Howell, says the bikes are offering the refugees the chance to explore the Crewe area and access college.

"Cycling helps their mental health as they are outside and active. It also helps them to feel a greater part of the community, which is a vital thing for them and their future lives as well as for the benefit of the UK as a whole as they integrate," said Phil.

There is a waiting list for the bikes.

"Any extra support we can get makes a massive difference as finances are also an issue but we seem with Ben's help to have found a new source of good quality bikes to renovate and give away.

"Since he started helping us we are taking things to a new level. These bikes really do make a difference and you can see it on the faces of the refugees as they finally get to the top of the waiting list and receive a bike.

"For some of them it is quite possibly the first one they have ever owned themselves." 

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