Some Flaxmere residents will soon be the proud owners of new bikes gifted by Menzshed Hastings. And the gesture couldn’t have come at a better time. Made with funding from NZ On Air.
Once, these bikes were relegated to the scrap-heap. Now they're bound for new homes in the Hastings suburb of Flaxmere.
Councillor Henare O'Keefe has the job of finding them new owners.
"It's just stunning," Mr O'Keefe says. "For people who don't live in Flaxmere, who come from the outside, it's huge, it's ginormous. It gives us a sense of value, it makes us feel important."
The bikes were refurbished by a group of retired men who call themselves the Menzshed Hastings.
Chairman, Brian Rutledge says the Menzshed Hastings is simply "a group of guys who got together".
They work in revamped changing rooms at a former Hastings netball court. Mostly retired, members meet regularly to work on both personal and community projects.
All of the equipment is donated and the men, who are mostly all retired, come from a range of backgrounds.
Not only are they putting their experience to good use, but it's also an opportunity for a good old chinwag.
"Most important part of the day is the cup of tea," Mr Rutledge says.
Vice chairman Bruce Cowie says delivering the bikes for the Flaxmere community "tops the whole thing".
"For us, we've achieved something."
For Henare O'Keefe, it's a powerful example of community spirit supporting Flaxmere.
"On occasions we monopolise the front pages of the media for all the wrong reasons but this is an opportunity for us to say - yeah people do value us, they do care and to have these magnificent men to do this voluntarily, how do you put that in a KPI? You can't put that in an output, it's priceless."
He says there are many families in Flaxmere who are in need of transport, one young man who has just landed a job in a packhouse requires his mother to take him to work each day.
People like this will be first on the list.
Mr O'Keefe says, with Christmas just around the corner, people will be scrambling to get a bike. And, the gesture couldn't have come at a better time.
