Knowle West gears up for new bike club for young people

A youth organisation that “supports communities to be the changes they want to see” is gearing up to start a new bike club in Knowle West.

Grassroot Communities has consulted with 50 young people on Newquay Road in Knowle West to find out what they want and need there.

“Instead of waiting for people to come to community buildings and clubs, we go to them, find out what their needs are and then support them to make things happen,” says Grassroot Communities founder and youth worker Ben Carpenter.

“The one thing that was pretty obvious that a lot of people in Knowle West had, and there was a shared interest for, was bikes,” he adds. “Everyone’s buzzing around, 24/7, on bikes.”

A bit of good news to start off your Thursday with a smile ???? We have been successfully funded by @CityFundBristol to deliver the amazing youth led – Knowle West Bike Club on Newquay Road ???????????????????????? ????

Weekly sessions touching on all things bikes, wellbeing and fun ???? ???????? pic.twitter.com/BgN5f3zDip

— GrassrootCommunities (@Grassroot_Comm) February 11, 2021

Grassroot Communities has been doing detached youth work in South Bristol since 2017. It has also helped young people in Stockwood to set up their own youth club and young people in Hartcliffe to start their own boxing club.

Ben is hoping the Knowle West Bike Club, funded by Bristol City Funds, will also set the wheels in motion for a bike track to be built in the area.

He wants the track to go on a bit of unused land between the Newquay Road Playground and Ilminster Avenue E-ACT Academy – and is hoping to get funding and permission for it.

“Nothing ever lasts unless local people are part of it from the beginning, so the hope is it’s a space that young people can use and call their own.”

Grassroot Communities founder and youth worker Ben Carpenter is heading up the Knowle West Bike Club project. Photo by Andy Hamilton

Ben thinks a bike track is needed in Knowle West as younger children aren’t allowed to go past a dual carriageway to get to the nearest one in Hengrove.

“Everyone seems to think, ‘you don’t need a bike track here, you can go over there.’ Well, it’s not realistic, it’s not safe and it’s not fair.”

The Knowle West Bike Club will be outdoors and mobile, based by the Newquay Road Playground.

There will be weekly sessions all about bikes, wellbeing and fun.

The bike club will engage with young people around the Newquay Road Playground in Knowle West. Photo by Charlie Watts

“There’s a lot of flexibility with what we can deliver based on the particular needs or the interests at the time. But the running theme throughout all of it is the bikes,” explains Ben.

“It could be that one week we rock up and there’s an issue with healthy relationships, so we do a session on that.

“We’ve also got a local bike mechanic who’s going to volunteer with us as well to support the sessions, so that young people can learn how to fix up some bikes.

“If they’ve got the skills to fix their own bike, then hopefully cycling is a cost-effective way of travelling for them that’s good for their health, good for the planet and might even help them find employment.”

It’s hoped the bike club will pave the way for a bike track to be built in Knowle West, on a bit of unused land between a playground and a school. Photo by Charlie Watts

Fifteen bikes have been donated to the club and it will also take local young people aged six and upwards on bike rides and trips to bike tracks across the city.

The plan is to start the club, coronavirus restrictions permitting, after Easter.

Ben believes the club will work because it will give the young people of Knowle West something they actually want to do.

“What difference it will make long-term to anti-social behaviour, I can’t tell you. All I know is it’s another opportunity that is based on what those young people of different ages have said they want.

“As soon as they start seeing things happening, people get interested. They’re like, ‘what’s going on here, what are we missing out on?’

“I’m not saying that if there was a load of youth provisions based on what local people want that there would suddenly be no problems – but what is there for them to do at the moment?”

To get involved with the Knowle West Bike Club, email Ben at info@grassrootcommunities.org

Charlie Watts is reporting on Knowle West as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a pilot project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media

Main photo by Grassroot Communities

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