The locals at Nailsea in North Somerset have been busy raising funds and talking to the council about getting a new, concrete skatepark built for the town. Read about their most recent initiative below, check a couple of photos and find links in the text to either donate to the skatepark fund or offer sponsorship/help etc.
The campaign and fundraising to try to renew the very popular skatepark in Nailsea (North Somerset) has been underway for just under one year, and in that time great progress has been made. The target for the fundraising to provide a first-class concrete skate park to replace the old metal based facility is around £150,000. Through hard work, grant applications and individual fundraising the Nailsea Skate Park Project team (NSP) have raised just under £70,000.
The latest initiative to help raise profile and funds was taken on a wet, rainy and pretty windy Sunday at Goodwood motor racing circuit, near Chichester (West Sussex). On Sunday 31st May three key members of the team involved in NSP decided to take advantage of the racetrack being closed for the day and try to skateboard for 11 laps of the 2.4 mile race circuit, in order to skateboard a full marathon of just over 26 miles. By completing this it was hoped money could be raised towards the final goal.
Local youth worker Neil Wylie, skate park user Joe Williams and organiser of the Nailsea community skate fest Phil Williams left early in the morning to drive the three hours to the racetrack through atrocious weather (not looking good for the event). The organisers of the event, called the ‘South coast Roll’ had rented the track for five hours from 11 AM until 4 PM, but unfortunately by the time the team had arrived the Park was still very wet and it was still raining, with winds gusting at about 22 miles an hour.
It looked as though therefore any marathon attempt would be unlikely, however the team agreed they would give it their best shot and the rain eased, the racetrack dried out and occasionally the sun even made a brief appearance. This meant that the team were able to utilise the time pretty well, and were amazed by how far they were able to travel.
Neil Wylie completed the 26.2 miles of the marathon, Phil Williams exceeded his target and skateboarded 31 miles and amazingly Joe Williams completed a staggering 41 miles on his longboard.
Even though the event has now taken place it would be a great help if people would continue to donate to the cause via the attached link; https://www.goldengiving.com/wall/nailsea-skatepark-project
Overall it was a fantastic but challenging day and whilst there are a few aching limbs and one or two cuts and bruises, all three of the team were really pleased with the achievements they made.
The next fundraiser will take place as part of the Nailsea community skate park Festival and showcase on Saturday 27th of June where there will be over 20 stalls highlighting some of the great causes which take place in and around Nailsea and sports to try out including golf, cage football and tag rugby, all surrounded by some great refreshments and a first class skateboard, scooter and rollerblade competition.
If you would like to sponsor the event, give any practical help or get more involved in the planned redevelopment of the skate park please contact Phil Williams at [email protected] . The team have made great strides but there is still a long way to go and building the wider community team will help us to reach the goal.
