Something maybe not that well known is that the rink at the skatepark pre-dates the skatepark itself by quite some time. The large, soon to be knocked down, roller hockey clubhouse for the rink has been closed and empty for some time but recently Claire Sambrook was lucky enough to get a few minutes to have a poke around. The photos from the clubhouse can be seen on Claire’s Flickr.
Peter
19 October
Sadly the cklubhouse went into decay when we lost access to the rink for roller hockey. Ramps that were too big to move easily was the start
There was also a lot of vocalised bad feeling from other park uses about our using the rink, including one occasion (which appeared to be condoned by the club manager at the time) when we were verbally abused over the tannoy system
What most current users dont realise is that prk is only there now because the roller hockey club ran it during the 90’s when the council weren’t interested and wanted to close it.
At the same time we also kept an eye on the fabric of the place and taking action if repairs were needed
Current plans mooted for the park don’t sound encouraging in terms of roller hockey returning to the park