SHRUB

Wee Spoke Hub

Wee Spoke Hub has established numerous initiatives aimed at fostering community leadership through upskilling volunteers and encouraging inclusive participation. The organization has focused on providing bike maintenance and repair training, with special sessions designed for women and non-binary individuals to address observed skill gaps. These sessions have resulted in a diverse group of volunteers who are proficient and confident in assisting customers during the weekly Bike DIY sessions.

Funding from the ECCF allowed Wee Spoke Hub to reopen. Since then, it has hosted 45 DIY bike repair sessions, totaling over 150 hours.

A large proportion of our volunteers are members of the LGBTIQ+ community, and we have arranged workshops particularly targeting these groups.

They have passed on numerous second-hand and new bike parts and repaired approximately 100 bikes, facilitating greater use of cycling as a mode of transport and reducing emissions.

The group has also led over 30 hours of group rides, building community members' confidence in cycling and promoting reduced greenhouse gas emissions through increased bicycle use.

The group has also run over 70.5 hours of audience-specific training workshops with 55 total participants.

This is reducing social exclusion from cycling for demographics that are often ostracised from the cycling community, as well as building new skill sets within our volunteer team, consequently improving job prospects. We also introduced a regular Follow the Sun event in which we ride as a group to build a greater sense of an inclusive cycling community which benefits participants’ mental and physical wellbeing.

Quote: “‘I felt very welcomed and it felt like a judgement-free environment, especially for a woman who is under-represented in this kind of area”

More information about the impact of the project is available online

Find out more by reading the Wee Spoke application to the Edinburgh Community Climate Fund or visit their website.