I went into Reading today (24th January 2017) and saw a note taped to a bike rack.

The note was from "Alex", appealing to the thief that stole their brand new bike.

Alex had worked hard and saved for a new bike, only to have it stolen after a mere week of bicycle ownership.

My husband commutes on his bike every day, I enjoy the occasional trip to town on mine (I'm admittedly a fair weather cyclist!), but I understand the freedom a bike can give- and how amazing life can be when you have your own brand new wheels.

Now I googled the bike that Alex had pictured, and it's a very modest, entry-level bike, sold by Tesco but now out of stock.

I would like to provide Alex with a new, modest bike. With mudguards, and a very secure lock, and also some bike insurance! Bikes also need maintenance- I'd love to be able to buy a bit of maintenance kit too- and a couple of spare inner tubes to fix the inevitable punctures (it's normally me that ends up changing the inner tubes on the family bikes).

I don't want Alex to regret recently moving to Reading- I love my little town. I love the people here, I love the town centre and I love our sense of community. I've been helped out by strangers before, and I'd love Alex to be able to not just see our town on two wheels but feel welcomed by its community.

To that end, I've started this crowdfunder to get Alex a new bike.

I'd really love to hear from anyone able to help offer us a deal on as good a bike we can get for Alex.

Thanks for reading.

Rachel