A biking group which suffered a blow last month when thieves stole 50 of its specialist racing BMXs is celebrating a £2,500 grant.

Bradford BMX Bandits Racing Club, which applied for the cash from Bolton Undercliffe Community 1st Panel before the theft, will use it to train more volunteer coaches.

Club chairman Ian Thewlis said: “This project goes right back to last October. We had a bit of a sit-down and decided we needed a lot more volunteers.”

The money, which was matched by the club, will pay for five people to become BMX-qualified to train youngsters, and to get 19 people qualified as first aiders.

Mr Thewlis said it cost £500 to train someone to coach, but every hour each coach put in at the club was worth £11, so it was good value for money.

“Three of the coaches are actually youths, aged 18 or 19, who are all local and have been involved with the club for a long time,” he said.

“One is my son and then there’s another lad who’s doing a sports degree at university who comes back and helps.”

The group meets twice a week at the BMX track in Lister Park, Bolton Road. It provides bikes for children and adults to practise on, but on March 18 they were stolen.

A social media campaign led to local businesses, schools and groups offering pledges to replace the bikes.

Currently the group has eight or nine bikes to loan to people, but hopes to get more once it has found a secure place to store them.

Panel chairman Councillor Howard Middleton said: “We’ve been working with some of the sporting clubs like the Bandits and Undercliffe Cricket Club to help them offer more opportunities for people in the ward area.

“That’s why the BMX grant was particularly good, because it will be used to train up people so more young people can use the track.” The panel awards grants from £250 to £2,500 to community groups in the Bolton and Undercliffe ward.

Others to benefit from the latest round of grants were Greenwood Youth and Community Association, which received £2,440, with £2,500 each given to the Transport and Environment Group, Inspired Neighbourhoods CIC and Undercliffe Cricket Club and Greenwood Youth and Community Centre.