Bands and bicycles at a bespoke party
Unique cycling cafe hosts festive bash in park
A UNIQUE cycling cafe is hosting its first ever Christmas party in a drive to get people using Uxbridge’s Fassnidge Park.
The Rusty Bike Cafe, which located in the park in Rockingham Parade in the heart of Uxbridge, opened around five months ago and is the culinary little brother of Recycle-a-Bike cycle shop.
The cafe offers work opportunities to help people with mental health issues back into the workplace.
Saturday will see the park welcome local bands performing on the bandstand as well as a festive barbecue, bicycle raffle and some nonalcoholic drinks.
The event is the first of its kind and owner of Recycle-a-Bike and The Rusty Cafe, Nick Gore, hopes it will raise some awareness for both the park and the unique community-run shops.
Mr Gore, who first set up the volunteer-run bike shop 11 years ago, said: “It’s about trying to tell people we’ve moved to the
BIKE BAND: park. It’s a project between us and the council because no one really knows [the park] is here.
“So I said let’s put on a Christmas event. We’ll get some bands and put up some decorations.”
Mr Gore set up Recycle-a-Bike because of his previous work in mental health in the TJG1ST borough.
While working as a personal trainer for people with acute mental health issues he was running cycling sessions, but some patients wanted to keep up the cycling after they finished treatment despite not having a bike.
After some kindhearted people donated bikes, Mr Gore and a small group of patients started fixing them up to make them rideable.
Fast-forward 11 years, and Recycle-a-Bike now has a new store in Rockingham Parade after recently moving from the Randalls building in Uxbridge, which is now under development.
Mr Gore, who lives in Rickmansworth, said: “We help people back back into work.
“It’s about having that stepping stone and that confidence boost.
“They can meet people but they’re not being judged.”
Recycle-a-Bike and The Rusty Bike Cafe also help out of work people get valuable experience and training to help them find employment.
Mr Gore is hoping to grow the business so they can offer fully paid up cycle mechanic training to PARTY PLAN:
give their volunteers an even bigger chance of finding employment.
The shop currently has around 25 to 30 people it supports with another 12 to 15 volunteers who help out alongside other jobs.
While trying to help boost the work they do, Mr Gore is also keen to make The Rusty Bike a hub for cyclists in west London, but needs help spreading the word to bike riders and cycling clubs in the area.
The Christmas event at the park on Saturday, which runs from 11am to 6pm, aims to get the word out that Recycle-a-Bike and The Rusty Bike Cafe are open for business.
It’s about trying to tell people we’ve moved to the park... I said let’s put on a Christmas event”