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About the project

Women from refugee and asylum-seeking background living in the UK often face significant barriers to health, wellbeing, and participation in community life. These may include limited access to transport, social isolation, language challenges, financial pressures, and unfamiliarity with local services and places.

The Community Cycling Project emerged from New Roots Active Lives, a partnership between The Women in Sport Institute at Loughborough University and local community organisations that explored what matters most to the wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers living in Loughborough and sought to co-create meaningful opportunities for physical activity.

Rather than starting with assumptions about people’s needs, the project began by listening.

Phase 1: Building Relationships

The Loughborough University Team worked alongside community partners and local refugee and asylum-seeking communities to build trust, develop relationships, and understand local needs and experiences.

Phase 2: Understanding What Matters

Through interviews, participatory workshops, and community engagement, community members and partners shared what helped and hindered their wellbeing. Many women spoke about the importance of mobility, independence, social connection, access to nature, and feeling part of local life.

Learning to cycle emerged as a powerful aspiration.

Women described how being able to ride a bicycle could help them access education and services, explore their local area, spend time with their families, improve their mental wellbeing, and feel more connected to the people and places around them.

Phase 3: Learning to Cycle Together

In response, we worked together to co-design and deliver a six-week learn-to-cycle programme.

This was a truly community-led effort involving:

• Loughborough University
• Loughborough Town of Sanctuary –supports asylum seekers and refugees in Charnwood through casework, sport and physical activity, English classes, meet and greet, and buddying programme.
• Two Wheel Campus
• Active Together
• Active Charnwood

Used bicycles were sourced and refurbished so participants could keep and continue using them after the programme. Equipment, training, venues, and ongoing support were provided through the generosity and collaboration of local organisations and volunteers.

Importantly, the programme was delivered in a women-only environment, creating a safe and supportive space where participants could learn at their own pace, encourage one another, and build lasting friendships.

Phase 4: Capturing the Journey

Throughout the cycling programme, researchers, community partners and the women worked together in a series of creative workshops designed to explore experiences of learning to cycle.

Using map-making, printmaking with bicycle parts, collage, photography, storytelling and mixed-media art, participants reflected on their hopes, fears, challenges and achievements.

These creative activities provided opportunities to reflect on and share experiences that might otherwise be difficult to put into words, while creating a lasting record of the women’s journeys.

What Changed?

By the end of the programme, every participant had learned to ride a bicycle.

Women spoke about:

• Increased confidence and self-belief
• Greater independence and freedom of movement
• Improved physical and mental wellbeing
• New friendships and stronger social connections
• Feeling more connected to Loughborough and the surrounding area
• Spending more time outdoors and in nature
• Increased opportunities to access education, services, and community activities

For many participants, cycling became more than a way of getting from A to B. It became a symbol of possibility, empowerment, and belonging.

Why This Exhibition Matters

This exhibition demonstrates how cycling, creativity, and community partnerships can create meaningful opportunities for inclusion and social change.

It highlights the importance of listening to communities, working collaboratively, and creating spaces where people can share their stories in their own ways.

Most importantly, it celebrates the women whose courage, creativity and determination made this project possible.

Their stories remind us that belonging is not simply about living in a place. It is about having the freedom, confidence and opportunity to participate in community life and to shape a future that matters to you.