Ideas

We are putting some ideas in place at the moment (and still working with the kids of Tallaght and Rathmines). The cycling season is coming to an end, the weather is recalling us that winter is here, darkness is coming, but this is the great moment to develop certain ideas.

We met with a couple of people and we decided the following:

- we are going to get accreditated as bike instructors in the UK in December or January and try to provide training from February

- we are looking for partners to share a rent in Dublin city. The idea is mostly to create an open space where a community library and activities can be proposed to all in the community. Several emails have been sent, we will see if this idea can become a reality

- the trainings in bike maintenance should start soon. Delivering them on a regular basis would be a key success. This can be done through colleges. We contacted a couple of people and they seem to be interested.

Bike donations are still ongoing. It is still very important for us, as our group couldn't exist without the generous donations.

In short, we are working hard, the kids are progressing, patience is a virtue!

Autumn with Rothar

We're back on tracks! After a crazy summer, things tend to normalize now. The activities that Rothar wants to become permanent are worked upon. We had several successes so far and things are evolving fast.

- The workshop with the lads in The Base has proven to be successful. We will be training the youth workers so that the activity can become a permanent component of the youth group's activities. This includes opening a workshop with tools so that the kids involved and the community can come and repair their bike when they need it, under supervision of the newly trained youth workers. Rothar remains a reference and will be providing the bikes and technical advice as well as further training when necessary.

- We started working with another youth group with Rathmines Community Partnership. The goal is the same. We are working hard but it is worth it.

- We are looking for premises now. We would like to share the rent with other organisations and we are looking for a suitable place. The good news is that rents have decreased in Dublin but they are still too high for such a small organisation such as ours. But we keep our fingers crossed.

- The bike riding lessons should be taking place at the end of this year or beginning of next. The trainings provided by Bike Scotland are three times a year. We keep you posted on this

As you can see, things are going well. We are growing slowly but surely.

Festivals etc

It has been a while since we updated this blog. We have been terribly busy and the project is really taking off now. We were at the Irish Green Gathering and it was a great experience. First of all the festival is tremendous. There is a nice crowd aiming towards the same goal: community, return to a real dialogue with the natural environment, solidarity. The music, the workshops, the films etc were great too and we would like to be there again. I really recommend it to everyone.

Last weekend we were kindly invited to the Cool Earth Fair (picture) which was taking place beside the Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire. The atmosphere was fantastic and it was a very good operation for Rothar. It made people of Dublin realise that such an initiative exists and we are already swamped with offers of bicycles, volunteers and maybe premises. We will keep you posted on this. We were helped by our lovely volunteers and they did the whole difference allowing us to take breaks and showing a great enthusiasm for the project. Thanks guys, that was highly appreciated.

The workshop with the kids in Ballyfermot is coming to an end, and we will start another one mid September with the Rathmines Community Partnership.

In short, we realised that the project can be successful and that we will probably have to give more time to it in the very near future. In order to do so, I decided to work part time and I will available a day and a half per week for Rothar from September.

Until then, because we have been spending all our energy the whole summer and because we need to rest before Autumn comes, we will put our activities on hold for a couple of weeks. We are moving house too and we need this time to settle down. I will see you then by September 15th!

Bicycle workshops

We have started our first bike workshop with a youth group 3 weeks ago. We were contacted by The Base, a youth group situated in Ballyfermot, a disadvantaged area in the South West of Dublin. Our six "lads" are all between 14 and 16 years old, from the area and the objective of the workshop is to encourage them to give them a taste of manual work and possibly have them joining an apprenticeship when they reach the appropriate age.

The first meeting was to discuss about what we should do during the workshops and what the guys were expecting from us etc. The second week we brought different bicycles and made them name the different parts and try some bikes so that they would know what type they would like to work on. We had been given new frames from a bike shop on Dorset St, and the majority of them chose a frame and made a list of parts to complete the bike. The idea is also that once the workshop is finished, we will do an outing in Phoenix Park and they will keep the bicycle.

Last week we brought the first load of spare parts we have bought. That was mainly wheels, tubes and tyres. We thought it would take a bit of time for them to learn and to put the wheels on the bikes, but after an hour the wheels were complete and they started working on something else.

So far it has been a very good experience. The kids have a passion and a talent for the bicycles, and they do listen to our advice and are eager to learn more. We have four weeks left and we are now pretty sure the bikes will be all ready and shiny for the outing. We hope to make go on in September, for the most motivated ones, so that they can learn further skills about bicycles and get themselves into technical colleges. This is a very rewarding experience.

PS: we will be at the Irish Green Gathering this weekend. This should be all good.

Summertime

The past few weeks have been quiet, hence the absence of posts on this blog. Now things are accelerating because we will be at different events during summer:

- Irish Green Gathering August 8th - 10th, Woodbrook House, Enniscorthy

- Festival of World Cultures August 23rd - 24th in Dun Laoghaire. We will then be

part of Cool Earth, the sustainable exhibition. We will exhibit our project and try to make it more visible

We are starting the workshop with the kids from Ballyfermot this week. This is a pilot project which will run during sevene weeks, and we will teach the lads how to strip and rebuild a bike. We keep our fingers crossed, this is so important for us!

We are also setting-up as a company now. The paperwork is quite heavy, and it will probably take time. But we are planning to ge this done by the end of the month.

More news very soon! Hopefully we will post some pictures of the workshop, of the festivals and other activities and festivals we will carry out.

Green Energy Fair

We were invited to the Green Energy Fair last weekend, in Leopardstown. It is being organised by Sustainable Energy Ireland and the Green Party, and it aims to provide people with the knowledge to make their homes more energy-efficient. Products such as solar panels and wood pellets were widely displayed. We had been invited by the organisers of this fair to present Rothar!

We were there by 9.30. Short night but extremely motivated. We had asked a professional to print a A1 poster (which we realised was too small for people with not such a good sight), and we had a PowerPoint presentation for a workshop that was planned for 4.30PM.

The public arrived immediately after the doors open (at 11AM). Rapidly some people asked us questions
about our project, and rapidly too we realised that the main reason why people would be interested was because they had an old bike at home and didn't know what to do with it. We distributed our leaflets, and met some interesting people we hope we will hear from in the future.

The day flew by. By 5PM we had talked to probably 100 people, had answered to the same questions 100 times, given our contact details to different organisations. So the result is:

- we will probably never have problems collecting bicycles

- we will be published in the Internet version of the Green pages (a directory of everything ecological in Ireland)- we will be at the Irish Green Gathering in August- we have volunteers ready to begin working with us- a PowerPoint presentation is probably the most boring stuff you can do to attract people, we will do better next time!

Thanks anyway to all the persons that came and were interested in our project, for the bikes you offered, to the organisers of the fair especially Nicola and Clare, and we are continuing on our way! More news soon.

Oh and we sold our first bike last week.

Getting started

We are kicking off!

Two weeks ago, we started talking about Rothar! to our friends, making lists of possibly interested groups, colleagues and so on. We collected bikes here and there from them, and had our first successes:

- three or four people need an affordable bike. We have our first customers!

- two groups in two different parts of the city are interested by our project and would need us as soon as next month to run workshops with kids. Nothing is official yet, but it is extremely promising!

- we met with a group in Cork which is functioning very well, and we decided to create a platform of bike recyclers. We know three for the moment, but we hope to federate more. The exchange of ideas and materials is the key for a good network!

- we got our first answers from potential volunteers, their skills will be extremely valuable!

Generally speaking, the idea is well received and we are hoping to get more people involved and to spread the idea of community and sustainable development.

What is it?

Rothar! – bikes for the communuty - is a community project that accepts donated bikes from the public. Our work aims the reduction of landfill, repair the bicycles and resell them. We would like to recycle the bicycles for use by priority groups (such as the long term unemployed, those who have been homeless and those with mental health problems) and be able to promote the use of bicycles and sustainable transport.

Some bikes will be donated to community groups, schools and individuals referred by agencies working with the disadvantaged and those at risk of social exclusion

Other bikes will be renovated and used to raise funds and help cover overheads and ensure the project’s sustainability.

Objectives / what we would like to do:

As a training centre:

• A centre where donated bikes can be renovated and put back into use for the community, particularly for priority groups.
• A centre where education and training in bike maintenance skills can be provided, possibly leading to qualifications
• A centre where self help use and community use are encouraged
• Establish partnerships with local community groups and initiatives such as youth clubs, schools and environmental groups.
• Establish a supply of high quality second hand bikes to the general public and community groups

As a bicycle promotion tool:.

• Promote cycling as a means to reduce social exclusion by improving the mobility of disadvantaged individuals
• Promote cycling as a means to improve health (mental and physical)
• Promote cycling as a cheap, often quicker and sustainable mode of transport, for all ages, from school (with the Green school project for ex) to retirement.

As a tool to promote a sustainable Dublin

• Create environmental benefits by recycling materials, saving the bikes from landfill
• Support Dublin’s recycling and waste management objectives
• Contribute to the eco friendly development of Dublin City