A SWINDON group dedicated to helping Ukrainians that have fled to the town to escape the war with Russia has helped donate dozens of bikes to them. 

The Swindon Welcomes Ukraine (SWU) group received donations of bikes, repaired them and issued them to Ukrainians that have moved to Swindon.

The group recently gave away its 175th bike. 

SWU was established in April last year to support hosts and guests through the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. The aim was to help build a Ukrainian community within the Swindon area.

One family asked committee vice-chair, Kris Talikowski, for a couple of bikes. He then put an appeal out on Facebook and was then inundated with offers of unwanted bikes. 

“We had over 40 people offering their bikes for Ukrainians, it was fantastic," he said. 

"We then had to work out how to collect them all, get them repaired, make them safe and then issued out to the growing community.” 

Swindon Advertiser: A Ukrainian family an the bikes donated to them by Swindon Welcomes UkraineA Ukrainian family an the bikes donated to them by Swindon Welcomes Ukraine (Image: Swindon Welcomes Ukraine)

The team initially started by using the services of local bike shops like ‘Run and Repair' which were prepared to service some bikes for free or at cost, but this wasn't sustainable in the long run. 

So, after securing some grants and through their own fundraising, the team decided to take control of the repairs themselves and treasurer and cyclist, Dave Thrower, decided to get qualified.

“I attended a Cyctec Level 2 bike mechanics course so that I could service the bikes to an industry standard. That increased the amount we could repair ourselves and has enabled us to get to 175 bikes to date.

"The Pattern Church have been amazing as they donated their top floor for our bike repair shop and enabled us to store and work on 35 bikes at a time”. 

Now the team has four volunteers working on the bike project, including two fully qualified mechanics.

It costs an average of around £65 to repair a bike and issue it alongside some safety equipment. So far grants and public donations have enabled the project to continue but the team are in need of more bikes, particularly female bikes, and donations to keep the repairs going. 

The SWU team have received 233 donated bikes, serviced 210 (some bikes that are uneconomic to repair are used for parts) and issued 175 bikes. 

All bikes are issued with a helmet, lock and lights and a document on safe riding to ensure the riders stay safe.