It’s easy to forget that cycling turn isn’t just an Oxford thing.

The city is blessed with over 20,000 bicycle journeys every day, and is home to the Broken Spoke Bike Co-op (a DIY bicycle workshop that teaches people how to ride and repair bicycles) as well as the proactive cycling advocacy group, Cyclox. The city has tended to make the rest of the county’s bicycling efforts look a little measly – that is, until recently.

Abingdon’s Freewheeling Club in the south of the county put on weekly rides at all varying levels, and are behind the brilliant Abingdon Cycling Festival. And of course around the county, every market town boasts its own ‘serious’ club, offering longer road rides. But out in West Oxfordshire, the Windrush Bike Project has started something rather special.

Brigitte Hickman, a teacher, and Kath Cochrane, a project manager, first met in 2014. They shared the conviction that getting onto a bike for short journeys can have a dramatic impact on physical and mental health, as well as wider benefits of reduced congestion, better air quality and quieter, safer streets. After 18 months of knocking on doors, making calls and raising funds, they launched the Windrush Bike Project (WBP) in March 2016.

A little under a year later, the WBP is working full steam ahead towards more active travel in West Oxfordshire, providing ‘Bikeability’ cycle training – that’s the Government’s (relatively) new cycling proficiency scheme. Over 400 local children aged 7–13 receive Bikeability cycle training Levels 1 and 2, giving them the competence and confidence to ride on today’s roads. Children who cycle to secondary school will be able to complete an advanced road skills course (Level 3) giving them the skills and confidence to cycle on busier roads. I think this is incredibly important because, as creatures of habit, we fall into patterns of behaviour that stick at relatively young ages.

It’s in all our interests to bring up a generation of kids who love the freedom of the bike rather than kids who expect lifts or need bus money. Children that can walk, scoot or cycle to school benefit from better health and better concentration. The community benefits from less congestion and pollution.

At their base at Cogges Manor Farm, Witney, the Windrush Bike Project offers fun and practical bike maintenance courses for youngsters and adults.

Read all about them here.

From March 25, there’ll also be an Open Workshop session every Saturday and Tuesday where people can bring their bikes and repair them, with advice and support from trained mechanics. At the Open Workshops, anyone can come and use WBP’s tools, buy spare parts, and get help and advice from the volunteers. You should be riding out head held high, on a bike that works and sure knowledge of how to keep it that way.

here’s a price tariff based on the time you spend in the workshop and any parts you need for your bike. The Tuesday sessions will be free for people out of work, and serve as a drop in for vulnerable or disadvantaged people.

The Windrush Bike Project also take in old or abandoned bikes and refurbish them. During the Open Workshop, volunteers will be working on donated or abandoned bikes to get them roadworthy. These will be used on ‘build a bike’ courses for vulnerable people, or given to school children who don’t have a bike as part of the Bikeability Recycled scheme.

As if all this isn’t enough, WBP works with the local councils to promote a proper cycling network linking homes with schools, shops and places of work. Anyone living west of the city should get along and check out what is usually a very urban cycling scene springing straight outta Witney.