The YOUTH initiative is the most advanced of all of the FG! initiatives and includes:

• Skate park & Community Pavillion
• Childrens Playground (Butts Play Area)
• Youth Shelter
• Youth Café
• Youth Consultation for the Parish Plan
• Gamlingay Records

Gamlingay Records is a community based record label set up for the development and marketing of new bands and artists in the South Cambridgeshire area of the UK. A dedicated website has been to launched to market the record label and the bands http://www.gamlingayrecords.org.uk/

The Skate Park and Community Shelter have been spearheaded by the Youth of the village as the Gamlingay & District Skake Park Association (G&DSPA) with the support of Forward Gamlingay!

The G&DSPA was formed in April 2004 and currently has the 9 founder members. It is the driving force behind the developments to build a skate park in Gamlingay and is always keen to hear from and meet new skaters from around the local area.

The G&DSPA are trying to raise money to build a skate park. The park itself has been designed and comprises a venue measuring 32m x 24m and it is planned to be sited on the sports recreation field near the community centre. One of the reasons for this being an ideal location is that it is situated away from any local housing. Whilst it does however back onto middle school and cemetery land, the impact of this has been mitigated through the skate parks design which includes acoustic fencing on one side. The location is instrumental in ensuring a space for the Youth to enjoy whilst still ensuring integration with the other community facilities.

There will be twelve obstacles within the park and the ramps will be made of metal and foam filled to soften the noise. Final plans include floodlighting but this will not be included in the initial build of the skate park. The estimated cost, including full landscaping will be around £185,000.

We are hoping, subject to successful fundraising, that the project will be completed by the Autumn 2006

Research conducted to help us design the Skate Park

We have had two main research trips this year which included a design course in Manchester for the Community Pavillion and landscaping and study trips to other skate parks.

• The design course in Manchester was a 3 day residential course run by ‘Glass-House’ which is a charity that helps local communities led projects. The course demonstrated to us the many different designs can be applied and materials can be used when building a skate park (and shelter). The course enabled us to see things differently and so helping us design a shelter that is truly inspirational.
• The trip to London included a bowl which was very cool and of course South Bank. The standard of skating on the South Bank was awesome. The whole day was brilliant and really gave us a feeling of what was achievable.

There have been many fundraising events and promotional events over the last year in order to raise money for the skate park. Here is a selection of some of them:

Forthcoming events include:

Founder Members