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Emma Wheeler 
Bike mechanic and educator
Thanks to his work learning to repair bikes, Roy, an inmate at HMP Bristol, says ‘it’s made me realise I can do things without drugs. It helps the way I think, takes my mind off using.’ Meanwhile, when fellow inmate Liam rings his mum every day and tells her ‘I’m going to work,’ he says it makes him ‘realise what I can do. I haven’t had a day off in six weeks.’

They are the kind of stories that light up Emma Wheeler, a 33 year-old bike mechanic with the Bristol based charity LifeCycle. She helps run an innovative scheme, ‘Bike Back’, where up to eight prisoners at HMP Bristol learn under the expert guidance of Emma or another member of the charity how to strip down a broken, unwanted bike and refurbish it, gaining a City and Guild’s apprenticeship in the process. Last year 82 prisoners refurbished 424 bikes and alongside the qualifications, the charity takes on inmate apprentices ‘where they can learn more and add to their CVs,’ Wheeler says. One recently released inmate applied for, and got, a job at Halfords, as well as building a bike for his 10-year old son when he got home.

‘It’s incredibly rewarding, because you can see that you’re transforming someone’s life by giving them a passion. Perhaps some just drop into the sessions and that’s totally fine because it’s a fun way to pass the hour, but for some people, they keep in touch after they’ve left prison and say that it’s been really beneficial for them transitioning back into the community.’
She herself is a passionate cyclist. After graduating from university in fine art, she started working in a bike shop ‘part time, but I ended up making it my career. It’s totally different from art, but it’s still very tactile and skill based. There’s an amazing community and cycle culture, and it feels important to share that and democratise it, because I really believe that cycling can be for everyone.’

The brilliance of the scheme is that it benefits more than just the prisoners. After the bikes are checked by an expert mechanic from the charity, they are then sold to the public at affordable prices, starting from £80, with grants of up to £100 available to those who need extra help. During the pandemic, the charity focused on supplying key workers not only with bikes, but cycle training and route planning – volunteers from the charity even ride to work with those who need it. ‘It’s more than just giving people a bike,’ Becky Whitlock from the charity says. ‘It’s about removing barriers and giving people confidence. We really believe that as many people as possible, from all different backgrounds, should have the opportunity to cycle.’ JS
lifecycleuk.org.uk
WORDS JESSICA SALTER | PHOTOGRAPH EDD HORDER