Donation of bikes from police helps Thurso High School pupils gain skills

Bikes donated by Police Scotland are helping pupils in Thurso gain new skills and boosting their confidence.

PC Matthew Thain visited Thurso High School to hand over the bikes to Jill Innes, youth development officer at High Life Highland.

A group of pupils have been learning basic maintenance of bikes at the school, and the donation of unclaimed bikes has given them an extra challenge.

Jill explained: “We work closely with Thurso High School on activities for young people on an ongoing basis. Being aware that there were a number of mountain bikes belonging to the school that were not currently being used, I contacted George Ewing, our contact for Cycling UK and Cycling Without Age. He kindly offered his time to help teach students the basics of bike maintenance to get the high school bikes back into a usable condition.

“There are around six students who now regularly participate in this weekly bike maintenance workshop. It is hoped that some of our trainees may be able to go on to teach other students what they've learned, and also take part in the High Life Highland Leadership Programme.”

She added: “To help provide other bikes we could use for practice, we contacted the local recycling centre, and charity shops for bikes. On approaching the local police station, there were a number of old lost property bikes that they were able to donate.

"Our students are delighted to get their hands dirty repairing and practising on these recently acquired bikes. We hope we can in turn help our local police by inviting them back to meet some of our students, and they can show him what they've learned!”

George Ewing, a development officer for Cycling UK who is based in Caithness, explained that the Cycling UK project he is responsible for, Rural Connections, is aimed at pre school children, families and adults over 16 – with all cycling education for school aged children being catered for by Cycling Scotland.

However, he was delighted to be asked to help out, so volunteered his own time to support the school pupils.

George said: "Following discussions with Jill it was decided the way forward was to teach/mentor a small group of children, showing them to how to fix a puncture, adjust brakes and gears, general cleaning, types of lubricates, where they should be used and why, and so on.

"It was felt that these skills would enable the kids to carry out basic maintenance on their fleet of bikes, enabling them and other pupils to enjoy them and provide some skills that would assist them in later life. It was also hoped that the training would improve the self esteem and confidence of those involved.

"Jill has managed to secure the donation of unclaimed bikes from Police Scotland and the intention is to allow our students to return these bikes to a road-worthy state using the skills that I have taught them.

"This is a fantastic way to reuse and recycle bikes in our community whilst giving our youngsters a real sense of accomplishment."

PC Thain, from the partnerships and prevention development unit, said: "It is great to be able to support local initiatives working with young people in the community, giving them practical skills and experience which they can go on to develop as they get older.

"I look forward to visiting Jill and the team again, to see how they have got on with repairing the bikes."