Move if in the wrong place: Fundraising for a community space that got robbed.

Some of you may have seen this before, I mentioned it on the Stolen Bikes thread or you might have seen it on the @eldrecycles instagram. Here it is again.

On Wednesday night the workshop that we borrow from Camberwell Subterranea (John Ruskin St) was broken into and we lost a lot of hand tools and a couple of power tools, plus two bikes. One of which is a super-hard-to-replace Specialized RockCombo that you may have seen in the Stolen Bikes thread.

We've set up a GoFundMe to try to replace the lost items. Insurance is unfortunately not a viable option this time, since another space that the parent organisation (BeeUrban) runs was broken into a while back and the premiums have gone through the roof. Claiming again would basically mean spending all the help the group gets on insurance.

Here's the description from the GoFundMe page - It should help to clarify why this space is a good thing and what makes it important to the community. Please also note that I'm not officially affiliated with BeeUrban or Camberwell Subterranea, aside from volunteering a few times as mechanic at the DIY workshop and keeping the space open to the public during the week as Eldre Cycles.

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We are Camberwell Subterranea - A community safe space and bicycle workshop located in three garage units underneath Aberfeldy House on the Brandon Estate, Camberwell.

Generally what we do is run free-of-charge bicycle maintenance workshops for the local community. Teaching them practical skills as well as helping them maintain their own means of transport. On top of this we offer general maintenance and servicing for anyone who drops by.

The proceeds of the services all go back into the community, we are also run solely by volunteers, with the exception of a mechanic on Saturdays for the DIY workshops.

The space is also occupied during the week by Matt and Henry, who restore bicycles they have bought themselves to earn a wage while out of work due to COVID-19. They also act as mechanics for general services, again - voluntarily.

Unfortunately what seems now inevitable happened to us on Wednesday night and we were burgled. We have been lucky and not lost everything, but we have lost a lot of our hand tools, a few power tools and two bikes, one belonging to a customer which has huge sentimental value to him.

As such, we are looking to raise funds to replace what was lost and make things right with our customer. It has been made incredibly difficult for us to continue fixing bikes for the community without most of the tools we use day-to-day.

Anything over what we need will be put back into improving the service we can offer (for instance, we currently have no toilet facilities - not so fun 10-5 Monday to Friday) or put directly back into the community. There's no way your donation will not help someone.

We just want to get back to being useful to our community.

Thank you,
Camberwell Subterranea Team

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More information about Camberwell Subterranea and our Parent Organisation, BeeUrban here .
Read more

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A link to the GoFundMe is HERE

Even if you're not able to donate a share is just as helpful. Lets keep this thing alive!