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We have joined forces with Bath-based homeless charity Julian House to offer veterans the chance to ‘get back in the saddle’ with a bike-building training course.
Working in tandem, we have completed a pilot project in which former Army Air Corps pilot Karl Tearney, 55, from Trowbridge, learned how to repair and reassemble a cycle over a four-week period at the town’s Julian House’s Bike Workshop.
Julian House was established more than 35 years ago to help address homelessness in Bath and now has specialist teams to help people with homelessness, addiction, criminal behaviour, domestic violence, unemployment, and learning difficulties.
Its build-a-bike project started 10 years ago and is designed to create opportunities for vulnerable people to train, gain confidence and get a positive lift back into independence and employment, all while providing customers at its shops – in Bath and Trowbridge – reliable, good value bicycles and maintenance.
Karl Tearney chose to rebuild a child's bike so the charity could sell it for Christmas
For Tearney – who suffers from PTSD – it proved to be a resounding success and he hopes it will lead to many more of our veterans undertaking the course.
He explained: “I’ve never really known how to fix a bike properly – apart from changing an inner tube. You select a bike and take it back to bare metal, rebuild it and it’s yours to keep. I already had a bike so I chose a children’s bike so the charity could sell it for Christmas.
“The staff there are incredibly kind, enthusiastic, and very savvy. One of them was fixing customers’ bikes, and, conscious of my condition, every time he had to use the compressor, he would come over and advise me first and ask if I was going to be OK with it making sudden noises.
“They were very enthusiastic about bikes but also passionate about passing on the knowledge to us. I was sharing a workbench with an 18-year-old, and, at times, chatting away, it was almost like sitting there with my son.”
He added: “It might sound soppy, but it was just nice to know that people cared about me and cared enough to think the course would be really good for me. And there’s a real sense of achievement when you’ve built the bike. It’s given me confidence to be able to make repairs on my own bike, when required. It was really good to be learning in a kind, caring and welcoming atmosphere.
“I can’t see any reason why any veteran would not want to participate if offered the opportunity. They shouldn’t hesitate; just go there and get the show-round and you’ll realise how good it will be for you.”
Tearney had responded to an offer to get involved from our Sport, Activity and Fellowship (SAF) team, in the south, and was supported throughout the experience by both SAF practitioner Steve Burrows and Geraldine Roast, the employment support lead for Julian House.
Karl Tearney, centre, with SAF practitioner Steve Burrows and Julian House's Geraldine Roast
Roast said: “Karl was amazing. He’s just completed his course. He had a love of bikes anyway and he loved being part of the team. They welcomed him and he was a great help with the younger clients, giving them advice and feeding back to them.
“He was there for his own personal reasons, but they looked up to him because of his military service and related to him in that, despite his background, he can still suffer from mental health issues. The rapport between them was excellent.”
She added: “The build-a-bike project is about getting people back into the workplace, and building on their self-esteem and self-worth, giving them something meaningful to do and making them feel included in society rather than excluded. They come in and build a bike, which they can then take away or we can sell in our shops.
“I’d like to get more Help for Heroes veterans on board. Karl didn’t need a bike, for him it was just about refurbishing the bikes for us to sell for the charity. He really liked that the benefits were going both ways. It’s good that we can reach out now to veterans, through Help for Heroes, to let people know these courses are available.”
Four further veterans have signed up for the project through Burrows and the SAF team and start their courses soon.
Contact your regional Sport, Activity and Fellowship team to discover what opportunities are available in your area.
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