Getting Clean: Leeds councillor Ed Carlisle takes on gruelling cycling challenge with former addict

Green Party councillor Ed Carlisle, who represents Hunslet and Riverside, will cycle the entire length of the Liverpool And Leeds Canal. He’s raising cash for community project Getting Clean, which helps addicts in recovery, and he will be joined by the organisation’s founder Chris Sylvester – a former drug user himself.

The councillor got to know Chris and the organisation through community events. He said: “I've found them incredibly willing to muck in and get involved in community stuff, so we've been working together over the last year or two. They're fantastic.”

Getting Clean has worked alongside Coun Carlisle on a number of projects, including repair jobs in his constituency, and Chris said his continued support is “really positive”.

The community organisation was founded in 2021 and its members do a range of different jobs to give back to the community. Most members are addicts who are being helped into recovery by the group. They fix fences, pick litter, cut back hedges and more to clean up the areas they visit.

Earlier this year, the organisation launched the Getting Clean soap, which is made by the members and sales help to fund rehabilitation and recovery activities.

Chris, who has been in recovery for six years, said: “[The challenge] couldn’t have come at a better time because we are dependent on funding and we haven't received any for community services that we carry out – the repair jobs for vulnerable citizens and the other things we do.

"Ed has been really supportive and inspirational. It's great to have him at the side of me and supporting me with this.”

The duo have set up a JustGiving page for the 125-mile journey and have already received £1,580 of their goal of £2,000.

Coun Carlisle added: “They are all about participation and empowerment. I think that way of working, getting people involved in the community, is really precious and fairly unique. It creates real possibilities for people to exit well from and recover well from addiction.”