Forty bikes for forty tamariki

Nelson City Council, Sport Tasman and the Nelson Bike Hub have combined to supply more than 40 bikes to tamariki and their families at Victory Primary School and Nelson Intermediate.

Ash Della Bosca (Kaiako and ESOL Co-ordinator) and Kelly Burrell (Sports Co-ordinator) were instrumental in launching the project.   

“Victory Primary has a significant number of students from former refugee backgrounds. Many parents are in the process of learning to drive or may not have access to a vehicle, making transportation difficult. Additionally, some parents work long hours, which limits their availability to transport their children to activities and sports. Our students are incredibly talented athletes and we are committed to ensuring they face no barriers to participation in sports. Twelve months ago we approached Matt Lawrey at the Bike Hub to see if we could find a solution,” she says.  

A partnership between Nelson City Council, Bike Hub and Sport Tasman emerged.  

Council worked with Bike Hub to secure funding from Sport Tasman's Tu Manawa Active Aotearoa Fund. Sport Tasman’s RideON programme (funded by NCC and TDC) worked with Kaiako Ash after she had identified a group of students at Victory Primary that wanted to participate in afterschool sports but couldn’t get to Neale Park.  

"The RideOn Bike programme also helped identify the safest route for the students to bike from Victory to their football games at Neale Park, while teaching the tamariki about road safety. It’s a perfect example of what can happen when different organisations come together to solve a problem," says Ash. says Ash.  

Once the kids who needed a bike were found, it was time to get them kitted out with a new bike.  

“We take bikes that have been donated to us. We repair them, service them, clean them and then rehome them,” says Bike Hub Coordinator Matt Lawry.  

“Over two years, we’ve managed to rehome 2,400 bikes working with schools, health agencies and community groups.” 

Nelson City Council purchased helmets and bike locks and Bike Hub provided the bikes.  

“We also do a session with the kids to talk about maintenance and safety,” says Matt.  

In September, Cung Cung, Alex, Bawi Nun, Nehemiah, Pray Reh, Ishant, and Lal  were the last group of kids to receive a bike under the 2024 programme.  

“They’ll use their new bikes to get to school, gym, football practice at Neale Park and riding home from the Victory Homework Academy,” says Ash.  

“This project not only connects them to school and sports, but the bikes give them more independence in their community.”