Skate park dream comes true as indoor venue opens (From Thisisdorset)
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Skate park dream comes true as indoor venue opens
8:00am Wednesday 26th December 2012 in News By Alex Winter
Indoor skate park opens in Poole
A BOYHOOD dream became reality for Tony Hill on Sunday after his brand new indoor skate park opened in Poole.
Prevail Skatehouse, which is in a former builder’s merchants in the Kinson Pottery Industrial Estate, has been a labour of love for Mr Hill, his brother Steven, and their friend Chris Davis.
The trio, who have not received any outside funding to build the skate park, began with just one ramp in October.
But they are hoping to continue developing the Skatehouse, with a cafe, a shop, and a huge bowl still to come.
“It’s been unbelievably hard work, with no help whatsoever from Poole Council,” said Mr Hill.
“I’m a carpenter by trade, and we had the place designed by a pro and then built it ourselves. I’ve had four days off since October, and we’ve worked for up to 15 hours every day, but it’s great to see it open.”
Mr Hill said he has been dreaming of opening a skate park since he was just 13.
“It’s taken me five years to get the planning sorted,” he said.
“When this place was empty, it was getting vandalised and squatters were here. But we’re here now.”
The venue will be open every day of the week, including school holidays.
Members of staff and volunteers will always be on-hand to make sure everyone using the venue is safe.
15-year-old Max Smith and 16-year-old Nathan Russell, both skateboarders, said the skate park is “unbelievable”.
Max said: “It’s massive – it looks smaller in the Facebook pictures, so it’s great.”
The boys, who have been to a similar venue together in Cornwall, said: “Compared to anything else we’ve got locally, it’s really well done.
“It’s just huge.”
Jess Brunyee, 14, who brought her scooter to the Skatehouse, said: “I’ve been here before when they were building it.
“I’d come here to watch it all progress. I saw it when there were just two ramps, and now it’s huge. It’s amazing.”
Kane Bortre, 14, said he’d looked around as the building was going on, adding: “It’s really good – it looks great here.”
For more information, or to become a member for £50 a year, visit prevailskatehouse.co.uk
Comments(20)
oneshortleg
says...
9:17am Wed 26 Dec 12
Old Harry
says...
9:18am Wed 26 Dec 12
buickboy
says...
10:29am Wed 26 Dec 12
Old Harry wrote:What a great story ! Well done to all concerned, hope you do really well.
Congratulations to the three of you. the Health & Safety hurdles you had to go through must have been horrendous.
vickability
says...
10:41am Wed 26 Dec 12
Unfortunatley he broke his foot!! after only half an hour. Nobody's fault but his own I might add, it just happened.
Good luck Prevail Skatehouse for the future.
winton50
says...
10:41am Wed 26 Dec 12
Old Colonial
says...
10:52am Wed 26 Dec 12
pete woodley
says...
12:46pm Wed 26 Dec 12
Holdenhurst
says...
1:59pm Wed 26 Dec 12
mummy123abc
says...
7:54pm Wed 26 Dec 12
This guy is awesome :)
Meerkat22
says...
2:13am Thu 27 Dec 12
wilkiemini wrote:Very true, poole council are useless, and fair play too you guys doing it anyway.
What an inspirational man Tony Hill is, against all odds the park is now open.
I for one will be making every effort to encourage my teenager to go and visit....if I see you Tony I will shake your hand!
Shame on Poole council for not supporting this project :-(
All credit to Tony and his gang x
Top man tony, if only there was more people like you out there
norlish
says...
9:35am Thu 27 Dec 12
So nice to hear something positive being done for todays kids.
Well done Tony and Steve
from and old sk8rat !!!
bourne free
says...
11:20am Thu 27 Dec 12
mummy123abc wrote:Couldn,t agree more , the imax would have be a fantastic place to go for the young .
wow that's brilliant, I wish there were more places like this in Bournemouth and Poole for our kids. They had a good opportunity with the Imax site but no it's gone to bars and boutiques :(
This guy is awesome :)
Well done to all involved .
Any idea of open times ?
Roband65
says...
12:20pm Thu 27 Dec 12
wilkiemini
says...
2:17pm Thu 27 Dec 12
HRH of Boscombe
says...
3:36pm Thu 27 Dec 12
Old Harry wrote:Totally agree. I bet no only the Council didn't help but probably proved a great hindrance aswell.
Congratulations to the three of you. the Health & Safety hurdles you had to go through must have been horrendous.
stormcreator
says...
10:55pm Thu 27 Dec 12
They had previously been granted planning permission on a unit more or less next door to this one but unfortunately for one reason and another there was a problem with the lease,So tony and team located to the unit they now are now in,they went ahead got most the way through the build when the council informed that to open they would need to pay for new pedestrian crossings costing tens of thousands of pounds in order to be allowed to open.
Read into that what you will but strikes me as close to blackmail as you can get. I'm not for a moment judging whether a crossing was needed but it was what appeared to be the underhand way the council worked.
Good luck guys you deserve to be a success and well done for not throwing in the towel.
portia6
says...
11:49pm Fri 28 Dec 12
youngsters.
Linguist
says...
3:17am Sat 29 Dec 12
stormcreator wrote:If what you say is correct, then i find that the behaviour of the council is abhorrent. I've never been a skateboarder but frequently see all the youngsters enjoying themselves on the Slades Farm park.
Absolutely amazing effort to get this open, To say the council put in hurdles is putting it kindly.
They had previously been granted planning permission on a unit more or less next door to this one but unfortunately for one reason and another there was a problem with the lease,So tony and team located to the unit they now are now in,they went ahead got most the way through the build when the council informed that to open they would need to pay for new pedestrian crossings costing tens of thousands of pounds in order to be allowed to open.
Read into that what you will but strikes me as close to blackmail as you can get. I'm not for a moment judging whether a crossing was needed but it was what appeared to be the underhand way the council worked.
Good luck guys you deserve to be a success and well done for not throwing in the towel.
They deserve all the success that they will (i am sure) achieve, and also lots of thanks from the local authorities for providing something for the youngsters to go.
It's a pity that the local council are inept at understanding what is needed for todays youth.
Roband65
says...
9:34pm Sat 29 Dec 12
wilkiemini says...
9:09am Wed 26 Dec 12
I for one will be making every effort to encourage my teenager to go and visit....if I see you Tony I will shake your hand!
Shame on Poole council for not supporting this project :-(
All credit to Tony and his gang x