A new skatepark could be developed in Fog Lane Park, Didsbury. A family from south Manchester are working to create a skate park, not only designed for the skating community of Manchester, but by them as well.
The drivers behind this idea, Gareth Breeze and his brother-in-law Christian D’Andrea, want to renovate the already existing skate park at Fog Lane Park with the help, ideas and designs of those involved in the Manchester skating community. They have created a webiste, opening up design decisions to the community.
While the idea is still in its infancy, the brothers-in-law already have the support of the Friends of Fog Lane Park and are going to be using social media to get the word out about the community wide collaboration.
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Gareth, who lives in south Manchester and runs EBGB Studios, got involved with this project after noticing that the skate park at Fog Lane Park was in need of renovation. He explained: “First and foremost, Manchester is a city that celebrates creativity and the output of a lot of creative elements. It doesn’t seem to have a great deal of publicly funded facilities available for skaters.
“Skating, in terms of all sports, is quite a counter culture creative sport so it feels surprising that that is the case. Manchester has such an incredible skate community that, in response to that, has started to create, what is called, DIY skateparks.
“There’s one up on Great Ancoats Street called Goose Side. There’s one in Hulme called B-Side where they are just banding together with materials and just creating a safe, skate space for themselves to use.
“What I wanted to do was to take the essence of what the skate community is doing, but apply it into something that is public funding and because of its public funding and location could be permanent.”
Talking about the park specifically, Gareth explained why he chose Fog Lane to renovate, adding: “If you’ve been to Fog Lane skate park, or just the park, you could see the surface and the quality of the actual skatepark there is actually quite dangerous. For such a heavily, skate populated community from around south Manchester, from Rusholme, Fallowfield all the way to Didsbury and Burnage, it really could do with something that’s a better quality.
“We wanted to get the skaters input, this is what we’re trying to do, to make sure that it’s going to be a park that’s well loved and well used and not just something that’s dreamt up by one person and doesn’t really meet the needs of the skate community.
“We’re setting up a few different channels, seeing which ones take and which don’t, Instagram, TikTok, Discord also forms on our website which will gather ideas and have conversations around what should and shouldn’t be included, what should be kept from the existing skatepark and what should be improved upon.”
Co-founder of Withington Walls, Ed Wellard is also behind the project, believing it to be an excellent example of creativity leading in the community. He said: “I think it's a great idea, that everyone should get behind. It'd be amazing to have a decent skatepark at Fog Lane Park.
“Infrastructure for play and sports in parks is not always a strong point in Manchester, and I think that these two trying to change that is admirable, the same as I do the hard work of "Friends of" groups in each of the parks in Withington, or for that matter anyone that is trying to make where they live a better place in whatever way they can. Hats off to them.”
To get involved with the design of Fog Lane Park's new skate park, then click here to visit to visit the website.
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