Liverpool-based Peloton’s aim is to make bikes social, accessible and inclusive. It uses a range of cycles to give people inclusive experiences and transferable skills. “We see it as an opportunity to work with people whatever they bring,” says founder Danny Robinson, “from abilities and disabilities to dreams and ambitions – we start from there.” Danny describes it as “person-centred practice,” using his background as a trained therapist to create a range of projects to improve accessibility.
Cycling Without Age sees older riders tour the city’s parks on a trike, while former projects have equipped young people in the criminal justice system with skills, training and confidence; Molly Coddle supports mums to ride safely with their children, promoting bikes as a sustainable and safe form of family transport. Peloton’s BMX track in Everton Park focuses on young people between the ages of seven and 11, working through practical skills and pastoral care, from making friends and improving confidence to BMX skills, mechanics, and track building.
At Cycling Without Age, trike volunteers are recruited at the university, where Peloton runs a shop. “Yes, it allows older people to get out and about on a trike,” says Danny. “But it’s also introducing younger people to what it is to offer care and support in a really intimate way. They both feel good. It has huge impact.”
Peloton’s Agile delivery service has pioneered last-mile deliveries across the city, offering a sustainable and cost effective alternative to expensive last-mile delivery drops. Working with other STOs including Greens for Good, Kitty’s Launderette, News from Nowhere and Windmill Co-op, Danny says demand has risen from around ten hours a week, pre-pandemic, to 50 a week now.
“We don’t rely on grant funding,” says Danny, “so it’s vital that we have commercial services that bring money in. We think that people should choose us – businesses should choose to buy a bike from us – because of the things we do.” Alongside Agile, Peloton also runs a bike shop to provide traded income that helps support its accessibility projects; it ran a mobile service throughout lockdown keeping key workers and their bikes on the road.
Peloton is now working with Kindred to develop Agile, categorising skills and jobs into four areas: riding, maintenance, design and tech. “Kindred’s worked with us on a bid to the Innovation Fund for a training manager, which will enable us to recruit and train four apprentices, learning each element in turn,” says Danny.
“For me, social enterprise is more than work: ideas percolate from everyday life and we toy with these ideas all the time – that’s where the value of collaboration is at its optimum.”
Peloton has also supported members of the Kindred community with a fortnightly bike auction. By donating a bike for Kindred to auction, it’s supported STOs that have experienced hardship during lockdown, including, so far, Therapeutic Garden, a new Positive Futures children’s home and refugee and asylum seeker support hub Cafe Laziz.
“We’re at our best when we’re collaborating,” he says. “Our shop at the Guild of Students developed from sharing our knowledge of wellbeing and theirs of the student experience and coming together over a three-year period to get the offer right for everyone. It helps if you have similar values or products, but collaboration can be found all over the place. It can be for a little or a long time; forever or a week. It’s in the contact and purpose that we learn exponentially.”
Sew Halton is a social enterprise that utilises machine sewing and clothing design as a platform to reduce unemployment, isolation, poor wellbeing and fabric waste.
Before Covid-19, the team ran a range of activities from its sewing studio at Runcorn Old Police Station. These included a confidence sewing course aimed at long-term unemployed people, an up-cycling project that distributed over 500 coats to local children and a poppy-making project with local veterans.
Sew Halton’s participants typically face many barriers – in a recent series of courses, 26% of the participants had a mental health challenge and 64% had a physical disability of some kind. Halton as a borough faces many challenges: high levels of deprivation have been compounded by years of austerity and many people feel isolated and disconnected. Covid-19 added another level of complexity to these social challenges.
The Kindred team has worked with Sew Halton since early lockdown. “Kindred’s support has been vital to Sew Halton – lockdown and social distancing could easily have made us unsustainable,” says founder Victoria Begg. “With their support we’ve been able to offer a range of Zoom sewing classes, aimed at those that may be particularly at risk of isolation. These have included craft lessons for young carers, sewing classes for local veterans, making masks for local charities and scrubs for our NHS heroes. Lockdown became a very productive time for Sew Halton and our community of sewers.”
Now, Sew Halton’s moving into the area of manufacture. It plans to set up a factory that employs local people and produces good ethical products from its base in Halton, which is plans to call ‘social manufacturing’. “Kindred has been incredible in helping us take this vision forward,” says Victoria. “They have connected us to universities, other manufactures and fellow social businesses. The networking and capacity-building they have given us has been fantastic. We’re now confident that we can start to manufacture a range of eco-sanitary garments in the near future.”
Its work in the community has also gained new recognition. “Sew Halton has been a great help to some of our most isolated veterans and families during lockdown,” says Billy Jones, director of the Veterans Community Force in Halton. “The craft sessions and sewing are great, but it’s the connection and community they’ve developed that really makes a difference.”
Leigh Thompson is the chief commissioner for NHS Halton CCG. “It’s been amazing to see the organisation grow and to see the positive impact that Sew Halton has had on the participants’ health and wellbeing,” she says. “During lockdown, Sew Halton and an army of local volunteers, manufactured scrubs for frontline workers. This was a brilliant idea that brought people together with a clear sense of community and purpose.”
“Sew Halton is a unique and valued community organisation that’s helping those that often fall through the cracks. They have created a brilliant community of sewers, crafters and friends – isolation has met its match in Halton!” adds Cllr. Margaret Horrabin, Mayor of Halton.
