Ref. 28030-05CAMPAIGNERS trying to build an indoor skate arena in Swindon are hoping to win the support of businesses during a series of workshops.
The three-day event will be a celebration of skate culture with professional demonstrations, skate-punk bands, break-dancing and graffiti art.
The Swindon Community Sk8 Project wants to send the message to businesses that skating is a serious sport worthy of financial support.
Business leaders will be invited to attend the workshops, being held at the former Railway Museum in Faringdon Road, to meet skaters and discuss their plans.
Eric Smith, who is helping to lead the project, said: "We want to show businesses, and Swindon Council, that skaters are not grubby drug-taking youths but responsible young people who are prepared to work together to realise this facility.
"Skating is a serious sport, and we need businesses to support us.
"We want to show them our plans."
During the summer, volunteers raised £700 during a demonstration by professional skate outfit Eastpak.
The volunteers are using the cash to build ramps for the demonstration.
Since the Sk8 Project was launched in the summer, Mr Smith, 41, of Cornflower Road, Haydon Wick, has travelled across the country to look at other skate parks and find out how they were built.
Along with his wife Colleen, 41, and son Alex, 16, a keen skater, he has visited facilities in Cornwall, Birmingham, Northampton and Ipswich.
He said: "I have been examining how they were funded and how communities have worked to get them built."
Last week, the Evening Advertiser reported how, after a long battle, an outdoor skate park is to be built at the Oasis Leisure Centre.
But skaters like Steve Ellis, 24, of Swindon's RLK skate gang, say an indoor facility is still desperately needed.
He said: "The outdoor facility is okay for skaters who have just started but we need facilities for people who are at a more advanced level."
Steve will be giving a skate demonstration and showing his skate-art at the workshop, which runs between Wednesday, December 17 to Friday, December 19.
l The group is holding a competition to design a logo. Entries must be on A4 and made up of no more than three colours. Designs should be sent to Mr Smith at 35 Cornflower Road, Haydon Wick, Swindon SN 25 1SA.
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