A prison volunteer’s journey

Transforming lives through volunteering

We work with volunteers across our charity projects, including Bikes Beyond Bars, our award-winning bike recycling project. We take donated bikes into prisons, train prisoners to refurbish them, allowing them to gain an accredited qualification, and sell them back to the community in our Bristol Hub (our bike shop and training centre). Our volunteers can work with us in both the Hub and our prison workshops.  

In 2023, we:

• Trained 99 people inside prisons as accredited bike mechanics
• Refurbished 860 bikes
• Encouraged 92% of prisoners to progress with training after release  

None of this would have been feasible without our amazing volunteers, collectively giving up 4,813 hours to help transform lives through cycling.  

A few of our dedicated volunteers have been with us for over ten years, including Steve, a volunteer at our workshop in HMP Bristol. We asked him about his experience as a volunteer.  

How did you get started at Life Cycle?

When I retired, I thought I ought to do something - my wife was still working, and I wanted to – this is going to sound corny, but I sort of wanted to give back to society. I hadn’t worked supporting people, directly, so I wanted to try that.

Then I found Life Cycle – I’d heard about Bikes Beyond Bars. I thought – that sounds interesting, I’ve never worked with prisoners before. It’s a bit of a challenge, maybe I’ll do that.  

How did you get into volunteering in the prison?

I started working just in the afternoons at the Hub, essentially checking the bikes that prisoners had put together, for roughly one year. In early 2016, I asked if there was a chance of me working in the prison, and Life Cycle encouraged me to get a pass and do the key training and so on.

How much experience did you have?

I’m a mechanical engineer and I’ve been mending my bike for a long time. I knew the basics. When Life Cycle introduced bike-maintenance courses, I was formally trained and qualified.  

They also gave some guidance about how to work with prisoners - don’t give personal information away, show some confidence that you know what you’re doing…

On a couple of occasions where I haven’t known, I ask Theo (the prison tutor), or I’ve worked it through with the prisoners. Then they’re working with you – it’s a pair of us that get there, a bit of teamwork, which can be quite powerful. Since I’ve been in there, I’ve found my feet.  

What’s been your favourite part of volunteering for Bikes Beyond Bars?

Working with some of the prisoners, which I really, really like. They're not as I would necessarily have thought. I did think that a lot of them would be vulnerable, which they are.  I knew a lot of them would have come from difficult backgrounds, of which I'd say most probably have. I didn't think they'd be quite as ordinary as they are, quite so easy to talk to. If you talk to the prisoners with confidence and be nice to them – like most humans, they will respond to kindness and respect. And that’s what we try to do.

Working for Life Cycle ticks all my values: Environmentally, it's good because we're reworking and refurbishing bicycles, so we're not throwing them away. It’s providing bikes to the community and getting cars off the road, which is environmentally good. It’s getting people fitter. And then there’s the prison side of it – which is quite valuable to me.  

What difference do you feel you’re making?

I went in there with a view to working with a different sector of society. The foot in the door was that I could help them mechanically. That’s how I could spark up conversations with the men, if they needed any help. But then you get talking, so I don’t know whether the value I’m adding is as a mechanic, or boosting their confidence, or listening to them.

There’s the soft skills, which I feel are more important. Because they're not all going to come out as bike mechanics. But if they’ve gained a bit of confidence…

A few of them, Adam, for example, completely turned his life around. He started on probation at the Activity Hub, went on to complete his training with us, and is still volunteering at the Hub. He’s gone through the complete Life Cycle experience. It’s stories like Adam’s that are so worthwhile, because you’ve made a difference.  

What change do you notice in the people you work with?

We had someone who’d done a bike maintenance course years ago in another prison. He’d forgotten some of it, as you would, but had a bit of a ‘know it all’ attitude, he was quite difficult. We helped him without trying to rub his nose in it, and he’s the nicest person on Earth now. You can see a change in attitude, and I've observed that a few times with people who’ve come in, who are probably a bit overconfident. You just let them make mistakes and realise. It's incredibly satisfying to see, and actually, they’re that much more confident.  

What would you say to those looking to volunteer?

Life Cycle are very flexible and supportive. You keep learning on the job – both mechanically and the people side. When I look back, I was nervous, and now I feel as though I’m able to deal quite successfully with most learners. It’s also a good social outlet, working with a range of people and ages.

Want to get involved?  

We have a wide range of volunteering roles within our projects. If you’re interested in volunteering, you can check our jobs and volunteer page for current roles.  

Support us in other ways!

You can make a big difference by:

• Donating a bike to our Bikes Beyond Bars recycling project
• Donating money towards our charitable projects