- Oxford Cycle Workshop
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Oxford Cycle Workshop ltd is a social enterprise based in Oxford, England. Its aim is to explore the new roles bike shops can play in serving their local community through the piloting of a broad range of social and environmental projects.
In 2003 a film was made by Oxford Film and Video Makers documenting Oxford Cycle Workshop's vision for its work within Oxford. In which founding Director Dominic Scholfield described "One of the great things about this project by becoming a hub for cycle projects in oxford with a presence, having a shop, (is) we can tap into all sorts of agendas. It really is joined up thinking in sustainable development. Cycling impacts on the health agenda, environment, we're recycling, we're looking at transport, we're looking at social exclusion, about a third of people in this country don't have a car."
The organisation's core project is the recycling of Oxford's many unwanted bicycles destined for landfill.
Training was also a key part of the vision for the organisation from the start, creating partnerships with local charities to use cycle maintenance skills as an engagement activity in youth reparation and vocational training.
In September 2009 Oxford Cycle Workshop set up a partner training organisation called Oxford Cycle Workshop Training, to develop a number of successful pilot projects.
History
Set up on April 1, 2001 by Dominic Scholfield and Gary Essex. Oxford Cycle Workshop started out recycling bicycles from a garage. Within a year the organisation had moved to a shop premises on Magdalen Road and started offering access to bicycle workshop space.
In January 2007 Dominic Scholfield stepped down from day to day involvement in the running of Oxford Cycle Workshop and three employees started out on the road to turn the organisation into a worker owned co-operative. By the end of July 2007 Dan Harris, Alexis Zafiroupolous and James Dawton had taken over as Directors of Oxford Cycle Workshop.
References
External links
Categories:- Social enterprise
- Conservation in the United Kingdom
- Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom
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