Tony Sewell, the man behind The Cycle Recycler, has raised £12,000 for charity during lockdown.

The Cycle Recycler is a social enterprise business, which takes donations of second-hand bikes, restores them to full working condition, and sells them on, donating some of the proceeds to charity.

They also offer servicing and repairs which are a large proportion of their trade.

During the lockdown they have been donating 80% the profits from every sale of donated bikes to charity.

Donations have been used to support local food banks and other local charities

While closed at the beginning of lockdown Tony used the TCR van to deliver food parcels and medications to those shielding or unable to shop for themselves.

Tony has been clear to stress however that the success of his work during lockdown has come from the kindness of the people of Kenilworth.

"Everything I am able to do is funded and supported by my customers.

"I really cannot thank you enough for your support, this whole year has been amazing.

"As a community I have seen such fantastic things"

Tony has been involved in the bicycle trade since 1989. He worked at Kelvin Cycles for the summer, to raise the money he needed to buy his first mountain bike.

Whilst mainly working maintaining the tidiness of the shop, he also began to learn about bicycle maintenance and design.

The Cycle Recycler began in 2013, as Tony began to work on second hand bikes. After complications with his health, in 2014 he began to work full time at The Cycle Recycler.

He has seen his business grow from dealing with a handful of bikes each week, to now up to 30.

Charitable causes have always been at the core of his work.

"I helped various charities going into inner-city schools and deprived areas fixing children's bikes for free."

As donations of bikes to him increased, he then began splitting the money from bike sales in half between funding The Cycle Recycler, and the rest being donated to charitable causes.

Since 2014 he has restored over 5000 bikes, and donated thousands to a wide variety of charities.

In 2019 alone "973 bikes were recycled and sold to new owners, 178 bikes were stripped down and the parts recycled on other bikes, 243 bikes were recycled through a joint venture and sent to Africa"

Tony also Volunteers at repair cafés in Leamington, where once a month they repair bikes for free for people who wouldn't be able to afford a professional service.

In 2019 he helped to repair over 100 bikes through this work.

"We also raised £3267 for various charities such as; Dogs trust, Warwick cycle hub, British Heart Foundation, wooden spoon charity, Leamington Night Shelter, Warwickshire Pride, Team Edward Labrador rescue, Myton hospice, Kenilworth Carnival, and the Foodbank."

With over £3,000 raised in 2019, this really puts into perspective how far fantastic his achievements this year have been.

"I've been able to donate more money in six months than the last three years combined."

If you would like to learn more about Tony's work you can visit The Cycle Recycler website here, or the Facebook page here.