Almost there but not quite ....

Unfortunately the weather is holding our project up. However, the work will start again as soon as the weather improves as we need three or four dry days so the ground can dry out enough. Unfortunately it is too wet at the moment to put heavy machinery on it and finish the work as we do not want to chew the ground up and cause too much mess so please bear with us.

In the mean time it would be appreciated it everyone remained off the unfinished dirt track until then ....

Thank you!

Here's the stone dust arriving ...

The stone dust arrived on schedule and is now ready for the final stage.






More news shortly ....

Week 3 ....

Hi everyone!

Here we are in week 3!!!

Just look at the progress so far: -








The track is almost complete. As you can see from the pictures, the Berms are now in place, and the track has been roughly formed. All the dirt has been used and we just about had enough of the soil.

The jumps have all been formed into blocks and Steve Jenks will be starting the shaping of the track this week, all being well with the weather. Once the track has been shaped, the track will then be rolled with a heavy roller to make the track nice and flat.

This morning we have 20 tons of stone dust coming, which has been provided by Peter Barkwill of Moonshill Quarry, Stoke St Michael and I would like to say a BIG thank you to Peter for supporting our project. The stone dust will be the finishing touch and it will be spread over the track and then compacted to a good smooth finish.

So, by next week, we hope the track will be complete and ready for the half term break.

The Badger Fence is up!

We are really pleased to announce that the BMX track is well and truly on the way and Adrian Coward (the Badger man) came on Tuesday morning to supervise the construction of the fence.



Everything went well, and the fence is now up and looks great. We will plant a hawthorn or blackthorn hedge next as this was all part of an agreement we had to having a BMX track.




As you can see from the pics, the track is coming on really well.
At the moment we have two of Steve Jenks men working on the track. They are currently compacting the soil to make a good firm surface for the track and gradually building it up to the right levels ready to start the jumps. They have already made a large start hill that will be compacted to a good height.




We have been really lucky with the weather and so far had only one half day of bad rain. So, so far so good!!!!

There is a really good atmosphere at the skate park and all the community are positive. With the Skate park now looking so good everyone is excited about all the new and improving facilities.

Thanks to Adrian for assisting us with this project. Protecting the wildlife is paramount and thankfully with the correct advice this project was able to proceed.

A big THANK YOU to Will Dunscombe for literally living on site helping to manage the process and taking all the photos

More photos to come as the track develops ....

Building the Track has begun ...

What an exciting day. Steve Jenks was on site today starting to build our new dirt track. Thanks to Will here is a photo of the first cut of the turf.



Its all really happening and there's lots going on. The Badger conservation man coming tomorrow (Tues) to supervise the new fence going up to protect the Badgers from the new track siting. There has also been lots of interest from locals. The local young people are getting very excited as its on its way.

Watch this space for updates ....

BMX track on its way ..... Atlast!

WE HAVE NOW GOT THE SOIL that we needed for the BMX dirt track project and as the weather is so good at the moment we are going to proceed NOW. The soil has started to arrive (Tuesday) and Steve Jenks (Track designer and builder) will start the building work on Monday 5th October.






More updates to follow .... watch this space!

Art project a great success!

The art project on Sunday was a great success and it has really transformed the Skate Park. Plenty of young people joined in and Lee worked his magic it was fantastic.

To see more photos look here

Thanks to Lee Kirby for a fantastic work shop and to Stu Capon for yet again more brilliant photos. Thanks guys.

Art Project role Call for 27th Sept

Any young people aged 11 - 19 fancy joining us at the Skate Park on Sunday 27th September at 10am (weather permitting). Lee Kirby (professional street/Mural artist) is coming to do a graffiti art workshop with us. We will be spraying up the back boards on the skate ramps.

Youth worker Simon Howell and Area Youth Worker Andrea White will be there too and this is a chance to decorate the skate park in a constructive way. However before that we are looking for young people to help get the back boards ready and so on the evenings of Thursday 17th and 25th Youth workers Simon and Karen will need help to prepare the boards so all help gratefully received. Please call Simon on 07821253537 for further details.

Wow! The Shepton Mallet's Skate Jam has been and gone and was hosted by our young people's steering group with support from Youth Workers Simon Howell and Karen Reeve. The event went ahead on the postponed date of Sunday 6th September after being cancelled due to bad weather the week before. This was the second year the event was held and there are plans for another event next year. 200 spectators gathered to see the event and the weather remained fair enough for the whole event to take place.

A BBQ with refreshments was also available with all proceeds going towards the young people's steering group fund which will subsequently go towards Shepton Mallet Skate Park and associated projects.

It turned out to be an international affair when Latvian competitor Martins scooped the best trick trophy after wowing the crowds with his complete rotation in mid air.



The overall competition winner was James Baker, aged 17, from Shepton Mallet who won the top prize of £50 and a trophy and Elliot Murray, last years winner, was runner up.



The Blades 11 - 13 year old category was won by Liam Golledge who also picked up first prize in the 11 - 13 year old BMX category.



The Blades 14 - 16 year old category was won by Kellan Hayes and the BMX 14 - 16 year old category was won by Keiran Perrin.

The young people's steering group would like to take the opportunity to thank their sponsors Great Ostrey Picture Framing, Cycle City, Salt Rock and Fraser & Co who without their support the event would not have been possible. If anyone would like to sponsor any future events or would like any further information on the young people's steering group please contact Simon Howell (Youth Worker) on 01749 344344 or 07821253537

Thanks also to Stu Capon - local, amateur photographer who gave us kind permission to view/use his fantastic photos of the event from here

Press Play and Watch what we are about!

We have had a night with SMASH (Shepton Mallet and Surrounding Hamlets Tenants Forum) tonight. Earlier in the year SMASH were kind enough to donate funds to us for a second Youth Shelter and money towards our track and we were pleased to be able to go visit them and tell them all about our work, show them our photos etc.

We went along as a group and took our DVD too (see above).

We've been to Mount Hawke Sk8 Park!!!!

We all had a great time going down to Truro, Cornwall for our steering group day trip to Mount Hawke Sk8 Park click here to see. This was a reward trip for all our hard work. We set off at 9am in a two minibus convoy (we had one minibus with the bikes in).

Here is a few snaps of the day (just until we get another slide show up): -


Callumn: -



James & Kellan: -



George: -



Jack (with no hands!!!): -



Kellan, Tyler & Charlie: -



Lloyd: -



Charlie, Jack & Toby: -



Here is the whole group but we missed Will in this picture as he was taking the photo!!!!



Thank you to Youth workers Simon, Will, Karen and PCSO Guy Dury who all helped make the trip possible.

More photos to follow ....


4th June 2009

WE'VE GOT FUNDS .... from youth opportunity fund!!

Thank you to the Youth Opportunity Fund who accepted our latest grant application and have awarded us with vital funds of £2,000. We now have this to put towards our conservatory work with the badgers that are around the skate park site, help towards an art workshop that we are going to do with Lee Kirby, a contribution towards our next skate jam in August and some training workshops for the new track.

A BIG thank you!!

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A new BMX track is coming AND a new trip . . .

We are going on a trip. As a reward for the Steering group we are going on a trip. We have had to plan and organise it with help from Simon and Karen (Youth workers).

1st April 2009




March 2009

For some background on our project this was started about a year ago, when the detached youth workers (Simon and Karen and volunteer Will) encouraged young people to voice there views and concerns at the local PACT meeting. A group of young BMX/skaters spoke about the need to maintain and improve the skating facilities in Shepton. The young people were successful at the meeting and they were voted in as the top priority.

Shortly after this meeting the BMX/Skating steering group was formed and was supported by Avon and Somerset Police (PCSO Guy Dury). The group were concerned that their skate park would share the same fate as the Glastonbury skate park which had just been demolished due to safety reasons.

The groups first task was to do there own risk assessment of their park, they took photos and ask skaters what work they felt was needed to keep it maintained. This report was submitted to MDC who then used it as a guide lines for there annual repairs.
Part of there risk assessment recognised that young people were putting themselves at risk by congregating /sitting on the ramps which meant they were in the line of those that were trying to ride it. A temporary solution of a park seat was supplied by MDC.

The other issue was that some young people were taking shelter under the football stadium, which in it self caused problems for the football club as often rubbish and class was left on the pitch. The group decided that the area would benefit from a youth shelter, which provides seating and shelter from the weather and are young people vandal proof. Also at the same time the group were looking at the possibility of getting a BMX dirt track and another shelter to go with it.

Funding success – came in two forms, the group applied to Youth opportunity funding panel (Somerset County Council) for the skate park youth shelter.
Dave from GRASP (group’s response for actions on Shepton problems) heard about the groups work and decided to write a letter to the local paper to ask for funding support. SMASH (Shepton Mallet and surrounding Hamlets) came forward and the group presented their project to them and were granted funding for the dirt track and the seconded shelter.
The steering group which consists of young people, youth workers, police and local volunteers have worked considerably hard towards getting this funding and sorting out all the unseen issues that have arisen along the way. But now their hard work has started to pay off, they now have two lovely youth shelters, the one which was funded by SMASH has an extra exciting package which consists of solar panel lighting, and blue tooth radio kit which young people can link to their mobile phones and play music. The other shelter funded by YOF is just standard but the group would like to up grade it once they have raised some more funding.
SMASH have also given funding for a dirt track which will be placed next to the existing skate park, this is due to be installed in July.


The steering group and Shepton Mallet Young People’s Centre would like to take this opportunity to thank all that have supported them in their vision to enhance the playing facilities for young people in Shepton Mallet.
Local residents/business men/women and the police of Shepton have pledged money towards the up keep of these great facilities and to organise training riding days and JAM competitions for all to enjoy.. A BIG THANK YOU TO YOU ALL
Please check here for our progress.

If you would like to know more, donate funding or time to the project please contact Andrea White – Area Youth Worker on (01749) 344344 or e-mail Awhite1@somerset.gov.uk

Next steering group meeting is on 9th April. Join us.

26th Feb 2009 - Meeting update:

Yay! Thanks to successful fund raising from SMASH and the Youth Opportunity Fund we now have both shelters installed. They look great. They are placed really well and we are really happy with them. The Blue tooth and lighting should be installed before the weekend. The shelters going up is proof of things really happening and we have achieved so much in under a year. Thank you SMASH and Youth Opportunity Fund.





Steve Jenks is hopefully starting our new BMX dirt track in April and we all hope to meet him soon to discuss final arrangements.

Other news:

Tyler had an accident on his BMX .... he went over the handlebars because they weren't done up properly AND he didn't have a helmet on!!!!!!!! He now admits you should ALWAYS check your equipment and wear a saftey helmet .... after all just look at what we get up to ....






.... and Lloyd is STILL banging on about Newport .....

Thursday 12th February

We had a steering group meeting tonight. We discussed the arrival of our two new Youth shelters which is happening on the 23rd Feb. (photos of their installation at top).

We are having one shelter with lights, blue tooth, speaker etc and the other just a basic shelter but thought that we could raise the extra £1,000 over the summer to install lights for the basic shelter .... watch this space!

We have some ideas with ramp heights and lengths and can't wait to meet with Steve (the track designer and builder) to discuss.

We have also got some great ideas for fund raising but we are keeping them under wraps for now.

Next meeting is Thursday 26th Feb

Steering Group Meeting

Tonight we discussed getting money for a new youth shelter and how to raise more money for more facilites. We thought we could do this by doing skate jams and fun days. We decided on what we could do and what type of shelter we want after our review on the recce day.

The next steering goup meeting is on the 12th of February.

Recce trip - Friday 16th January 2009

We had our first steering group recce around parts of Somerset and started off in West Coker. It was falling into dis-repair, the ground of the track was terrible and was a bad example of a BMX track. We can't believe that they have a steering group to keep their tracks well looked after. Also they had no health or safety signs or age restrictions for the track. The track was in the corner of a field so it was hard for visibilty. There was a shelter with seating but no toilets or lighting, there was one litter bin but it was a fair distance from the track, also the shelter was not that close to the track either. There was no pathway to the track. Our rating in total for the West Coker Bmx track was 3 out of 10.

After West Coker we then travelled to South Petherton. The Surface type was a mix of grit and mud. There had been some maintenance but not any recently as there was some wear e.g holes and overgrown grass. There was a sign with warnings saying no motorbikes and no alcohol. These signs were placed next to the track and on the shelter. The track was placed at a clear open space which was easy to locate and find the area was clean and quit. the best points of this track was nicely spaced out jumps, the track was big and visible also the starting hill was nice and large. But with good points comes bad points these bad points were stickiness of the track where the gravel had worn away. There was a few holes through wear and tear also the starting hill was steep and nicely sloped but needed concreting. The area around the track had a shelter, seating, lighting on a shelter, toilets and also litter bins near the track. we gave this Bmx track a 7 out of 10.

After South Petherton we went to Taunton which was an option 3 track which was the best out of the 3 but it was too expensive. Plenty of space between ramps and high ramps with a starting hill with 8 lanes and it was better maintained out of the 3, no litter bins, no lighting and no toilets and the shelter was too far away from the track, the location was fairly good as it was close to a 24hr supermarket and this track was a rating of 9 out of 10.

At the track we met a man called James who said he used the track and he let us share his bike which was great.

It was a good day out and we got to see different tracks and places in the area.