A little about us, we are a group of local skaters and business owners that have launched a Community Interest Company 'The Dry Skate Project' with the aim to provide an indoor competition standard skatepark, in the new city of Colchester. 

We believe that enabling skaters and all the wheeled sports to have access to an indoor facility all year round, will help to galvanise extreme sports in our area, and help make them viable sporting options (as apposed to a summer hobbies) where participants can practice and develop their skills to a high standard. We already have a very strong scene of core skateboarders in Colchester and Essex, a few of which have become pro. Our space will not only support them, but also offer all the benefits of extreme sports to a whole new wave of people.

Further to the physical health benefits, mental health is something very important to us, one of our main aims is to provide a safe inclusive space where people can escape their reality and have access to staff members who have had the relevant mental health and safeguarding training. 

Research by Instinct Laboratory & Flo Skatepark showed that 'individuals who partake in skating stated they do so to reduce boredom, provide them with escapism, help them to build their confidence and use skateboarding as a coping mechanism for their emotions.' (skateboardgb.org, 2020) .

We believe that skating is as good for your mental health as it is for your physical health, that's why this is a driving force behind what we are aiming to achieve with the space.

Colchester has been the largest growing town/city in the UK for some years, but little to no investment has been made into extreme sporting infrastructure. We aim to rectify that and give the community a much-needed space to develop. 

We also want to provide access to computers and software to develop people's skills in the creative areas surrounding skating like photography, film making, social content creation and marketing.

With a dedicated facility open all year round we hope to inspire and develop the next generation of Olympians and creative geniuses. 

We need your signatures to show the local authorities how much support there is for a project of this nature, so if you can also share with anyone you think would be interested in a facility like this that would be amazing.