The History of The Bike Rescue Project CIC . . .The Art and Heart of bike recycling

In March 2006 Bernie Cullen and Andy Scaife went to Bike Station in Edinburgh to attend a seminar on Bike recycling. Andy was running Bike Rescue an AA service for cyclists and was also doing ad hoc bike recycling from the local tip. Bernie was a part-time sign language interpreter and it became apparent during the seminar that if Edinburgh could run a successful scheme, York with its history as a cycling city should have an adequate supply of bikes in need of re-use, and plenty of customers to keep the scheme going.

In August 2006 with the help of the council, we got our first two units at Parkside Commercial Centre, and moved 57 bikes covered with snails and ivy from the back of Bernie’s Garden. We had begun; we used our own tools and Bernie’s credit card to get going. In Oct 2006 we registered as a CIC and The Bike Rescue Project came into being.

Mike West, a local bike engineer helped us enormously by donating some tools and stock, and eventually with grants from Yorkshire Forward, The community Foundation and The Steve Magson Trust we had the equipment we needed to support the workshop staff, and the volunteers, to do a great job.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to all the staff, volunteers and loyal customers without whom Bike Rescue would never have got off the ground. In 2010 we are now in a position to feel secure and well on the way to being a sustainable organisation that does not depend on grants for its security. Thanks are due to all the Funders who believed in this small new organisation and helped us get going, and of course to all those who wheeled their bikes to use to have a new lease of life.

In late 2009 Andy Scaife left Bike Rescue to move on to other projects, and Jamie Wilson became a Director; shortly afterward he was joined by Mark Gell who since starting as a volunteer, proved himself indispensable and worked his way through the ranks to become our Senior Mechanic.

A new era for Bike Rescue began on 3rd January 2011 when after years of planning and hard work the ribbon was cut on our shiny new 'Hub Station.'

And there the story begins . . .