Salvation Army homelessness service completes 24 hour cycle relay challenge

Staff, volunteers and service users from the Salvation Army homelessness service Booth House in Swindon competed alongside six-time Olympic champion Jason Kenny last weekend in Revolve24, a 24 hour relay road race held on the Grand Prix Circuit at Brands Hatch.  

Booth House Lifehouse is a residential centre based in Swindon for local people experiencing homelessness. From there, the Salvation Army runs Recycles, a social enterprise which sells refurbished bikes, offers cycle repair and servicing, a cycle hire scheme and cycle maintenance courses for local people. They have also recently become members of the British Cycling Federation and launched a Cycling team with an official team kit.   

Recycles offers training, skills and work experience to service users of Booth House who are involved in all aspects of running the business.   The two teams that took part in the gruelling 24 hour race this weekend were made up of staff, volunteers and former and current service users of Booth House, all of whom are involved with Recycles and the new Cycling team.   

Mark Wheatley, mechanic at Recycles Swindon who took part in the event said: “It was amazing to see the team achieve so much! All the riders worked so hard, had fun and gave it their all. I am so proud of how everyone did and we are all looking forward to getting fitter to do even better next year!”  

This is the second year that Recycles were involved, having assisted with mechanical support for all competitors at the event last year.  

Huw Bunn, Founder of Revolve24 said: “We were really pleased to welcome the Recycles Team back to Brands Hatch as participants themselves this year. It's a cause that we have a great deal of affection for”.