A CHARITY which helps homeless and unemployed people find the confidence to secure work through refurbishing bikes has been given a much-needed boost thanks to generous donations from a local waste firm.

The Julian House bike workshop in Duke Street, Trowbridge, will now have a steady intake of bicycles thanks to MJ Church, who are based near Chippenham, who have agreed to supply the bikes from their waste management stations.

The workshop, which opened in 2014, has been looking to find regular sources of used bikes for some time which manager Mike Sharratt said he is delighted to find a solution.

He said: “We are overjoyed that MJ Church has agreed to gather its bikes at its waste management stations in Wiltshire so that we can refurbish and sell them on to customers interested in buying older, less expensive bikes.”

The Julian House Bike Workshop run the Build-a-Bike scheme which is a six-week course that gives a hands-on introduction to bicycle maintenance.

The course is delivered by their qualified mechanics who provide people with the opportunity to learn a new skill, try something new, build their self-confidence and gain a sense of achievement, as well as to begin to build work-related skills such as time-keeping, team working and problem solving.

On completion participants will have completely dismantled and built their own bike from scratch.The bike is then theirs to keep, along with an AQA certificate and a portfolio record of their hard work.

Jayne Hobbs, customer service manager at MJ Church, said: “As a recycling firm we believe in finding a home for anything that can be recycled. So we are more than happy to work with the Trowbridge Bike Workshop.

"We know that the bikes we gather will be used to help the homeless and long-term unemployed people on the Bike Workshop’s Build-a-Bike scheme to get back on their feet, and gain confidence and work experience.”