Park could be ‘flagship venue’ for skateboarding

A SKATE park which young people want to bring to a South Wales community could become a flagship venue for skateboarding in Wales in the future, it has been claimed.

It has been nearly a year since a community campaign was set up to get a permanent skatepark opened at Tynybryn Park in Tonyrefail that would be available for skateboards as well as bikes and wheelchairs.

The Tonyrefail Skatepark group was set up following a public meeting and its committee includes a number of young people from the area.

The group is working with both the community council and the county council to buy a plot of land on which the skate park could eventually be built.

The campaign has got the backing of local councillors Dan Owen-Jones, Labour, Danny Grehan, Plaid Cymru and Alexandra Davies-Jones, Labour, as well as Assembly Member Mick Antoniw.

Councillor Alexandra Davies-Jones who represents Tonyrefail West is on the group’s committee and said that, as skateboarding is set to make its Olympic debut in 2020, the future skate park could become a flagship park for the sport in Wales with the support of Sport Wales and Lottery funding.

“It all started from asking children what they wanted in the area,” she said.

“We’ve identified a piece of land which would be perfect and not affect the cricket pitch or rugby field.

“Why don’t we aim high? We could have a national skate park for Wales here and host tournaments.

“We need to consult with everyone on what they want. I am hoping we should be able to raise around £300,000. It’s a huge target but I am hoping we can attract Sport Wales funding. “It’s stil early days but it is going well.” Since being set up, the group has come up with the idea of organising a pop-up skate park at the local leisure centre.

The group worked with Cllr OwenJones, Labour, to design and build a number of ramps and edging kerbs.

Due to the success of the pop-up skatepark, the group now intends to hold these on a regular basis until the real skate park is opened.

Cllr Owen-Jones said: “This was a massive task for the young people to get the pop up skate park up and running.

“They now face the mammoth task of getting the real thing opened in the wonderful Tynybryn Park, a task that they, with the help of the community, are certainly capable of doing.

“They have shown what young people can do when they put their minds to it. They did a fantastic job.”

They are now grouping together to hold a Tonyrefail-wide funding day to raise money for a permanent skatepark.

Tonyrefail Skatepark has held two concerts in the past few months, with the help and support of both Coedely Club and St. David’s Church who hosted the concerts, raising nearly £2,000 between the events.

The group’s next fundraiser is an afternoon tea which is being hosted by Salem Chapel with the Support of Tonyrefail Ladies’ Choir.

It will then be looking at car washes and a car boot sale to continue the fundraising.