Abandoned bikes given new lease of life
Old and broken bikes abandoned by passengers at Rugby Railway Station have been given a new lease of life in a partnership project between Virgin Rail, HMP Onley/Halfords and local offender mentoring organisation Futures Unlocked.
Mountain and city bikes were among the unwanted cycles, left in various states of disrepair, which were stored in a warehouse on a platform of Rugby station. With no-one coming forward to claim them, they were decaying and looked set to be thrown away.
Instead Virgin Trains team leader Marlon Golding offered the bikes to Futures Unlocked, a Rugby-based project which provides a volunteer mentoring service to ex-offenders to help them resettle into the community. Futures Unlocked arranged for the bikes to be repaired by prisoners on a Halfords training scheme in nearby HMP Onley, Northants.
The bikes will soon be ready to be distributed to needy clients of the organisation, their families and local schools.
New apprentices
We have recently appointed two new apprentices – one has completed a traineeship with us and the other comes from our partnership with the Princes Trust.
We are also piloting a new apprenticeship in September for 18 months, which offers a new qualification in rail.