.renovating; rebuilding; riding

With a recent report suggesting that remarkably high percentages of kids couldn't tell you where milk or eggs came from, the role and benefit of urban farms can't really be overstated. But why on earth are we talking about urban farms in a cycling magazine? Well we've been speaking to Robert Paige of Meanwood Valley Urban Farm about a fantastically positive bike scheme they've been running.

The Farm in question is in Leeds, having been converted from formerly derelict buildings in 1980, and covers a huge area of 14.5 acres. This is no small operation, being open 365 days a year, with 14 staff employed, and around 40,000 visitors a year.

It's main purpose, as you'd expect with a farm, is to educate city kids about farm animals and the rural environment, as Robert suggests, "an experience essential in any child's development."

That necessity is heightened when you consider the farm's exact location, spanning the 7th and 8th most 'deprived' wards in Leeds, according to Government figures. University Ward in particular also counts itself as the ward with the highest incidence of child poverty in Leeds.

So where do the bikes come in? And perhaps more interestingly, why?

It all began about 3 years ago and the Farm was looking for ways to motivate the young people in high schools in the area. The main criteria was that any new project would have to be sustainable, and then someone hit on the idea of renovating old bikes.

The idea seems perfect. Teach the kids how to restore a bike, with the promise of keeping the bike at the end, as long as they restore another to go to those in need around the world. Educational; aspirational; beneficial.