Rehoming More Abandoned Bikes with Maidstone CAN and Making a Difference to Maidstone
Following our recent success of moving on some abandoned bikes at Maidstone West for refurbishement and re-use, Sharon Gray of Southeast Communities Rail Partnership alerted us to another pile of abandoned bikes, this time at Tonbridge station.
In years gone by, these were passed on to the YMCA at Tonbridge, to support a scheme to allow young people to learn skills refurbishing the bikes, which were then sold to raise funds for YMCA projects, however the scheme closed in November 2023.
Maidstone CAN were again happy to take these bikes, that their volunteers could refurbish at the Maidstone Repair Cafe project, and teach others who would like to learn cycle maintenance skills.
Over 30 bikes were collected. All will receive a basic safety check before either donation to Make a Difference to Maidstone for sale, raising funds to support their project work and getting bikes to people who need them for everyday transport; or being refurbished by Maidstone CAN at the Maidstone Repair Cafe, offering the opportunity for visitors to the Repair Cafe to learn bike maintenance skills. Once refurbished they will be sold to support the project.
We are now working with Southeastern to establish protocols for the distribution of bikes abandoned at stations on their network to similar cycle recycling projects across Kent.
We will continue to look for further one-off opportunities while a new process is being developed.
