HMP Barlinnie
Reloved bikes for prison families
We partner with HMP Barlinnie and Prison Fellowship Scotland to donate refurbished bikes to the children and relatives of people in HMP Barlinnie during Christmas.
While most kids count down to presents, some face the hardship of missing loved ones. A bike changes that — the kids will ride into the new year with a shiny bike and a heartfelt message from their parent.
The bikes arrive at Christmas. The support runs all year.
Christmas is when the bikes go out, and it is the part people see. It is not the whole of it. We work with HMP Barlinnie and Prison Fellowship Scotland throughout the year — a sentence does not only land in December, and neither does the help.
Where the bikes come from
Every one is a donated bike that came to us as somebody's problem — flat, seized, forgotten in a shed. Our mechanics strip them, test them and rebuild them properly, so what arrives is a bike that works, not a gesture.
That is the quiet part of this project. The bikes are only possible because people give us the ones they stopped riding — and because the donations keep coming in all year, not just in November.
Christmas on film
The day the bikes go out, and the message that goes with them.
Working in a prison, school or community organisation?
If you support families affected by imprisonment and think we could help, we would like to talk.