Crime cash to go to Malmesbury charity (From This Is Wiltshire)

Crime cash to go to Malmesbury charity

7:00am Friday 6th November 2009

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Cash recovered from criminals has been given to Malmesbury charity Jole Rider to teach bike maintenance skills to children in danger of being expelled from school.

The charity, which collects and ships bikes to Africa to allow youngsters to get to school, has been given £30,000 by the Wiltshire branch of the Criminal Justice Service to run workshops in schools.

Jole Rider has already run a similar scheme in prisons where inmates have helped to maintain the bikes and get them ready for shipment to The Gambia in West Africa.

The charity’s director, David Swettenham, is now hoping to replicate the scheme with pupils who have either been excluded or are at risk of being excluded.

He said: “What we have seen in prisons is that the inmates go through a positive change.

“They learn new skills, gain confidence and they see that their work is really valuable to the children in Africa.

“Now we want to replicate that with youngsters who sometimes struggle with the normal academic set up.”

In the past funds recovered from criminal activity has been pumped back into central government and policing but now a proportion has been earmarked for community projects designed to prevent crime.

Mr Swettenham said: “Something like 300 projects have been funded by the CJS all intended to reduce crime or its impact on society.

“We will be working with youngsters who, due to their circumstance, are most likely to commit crime.”

Staff from the charity’s Training, Education, Xperience arm will be going into schools and work with young people likely to benefit from the programme.

Last Wednesday the charity celebrated a landmark achievement as it shipped its 5,000th bike from its hangar at Hullavington airfield.

Mr Swettenham said it had been a record day. “We loaded 409 bikes, more than we ever have loaded in one day.

“We have now sent our 5,000th bicycle but we already have our 6,000th which is waiting in the hangar.

“We just need to raise enough money to send the next thousand out there.”

The shipment also contained 50 Haynes bike maintenance manuals given by the publishers, which will help the schools in The Gambia to keep the bikes running.

A video of the bike loading will be available on the Jole Rider website www.jolerider.org

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