Boost for Local Skateboarding as Sky Brown Wins Bronze
Funding given for free summer classes for Wandsworth children
Sky Brown competing at the Tokyo Olympics. Picture: @TeamGB
|
New Rules on Access To Council Services and Facilities Register for your newsletter from: |
Free skateboarding and inline skating sessions are being made available to 256 children in the borough over the summer holidays.
The sessions, which are to be offered to young people aged 7-17 in receipt of free school meals, look likely to be popular following 13-year-old Sky Brown’s skateboarding bronze medal in the Olympic games which is widely expected to lead to a surge of interest in the sport.
They will be provided by urban sports organisation Urban Studio Sessions and healthy meals and nutrition education will be included.
Urban Studio Sessions received another round of funding from Wandsworth council’s Holiday and Food Programme (HAF) ‘Summer Unlocked 2021’ a centralised government initiative by the Department of Education. This will allow it to deliver for four weeks of the summer holidays to Wandsworth residents including children and young people who attend Wandsworth schools and alternative education provision.
This follows on from its successful Easter HAF programme. Urban Studio Sessions says, “As a grassroots South London organisation, we feel we are able to tackle food hunger and physical activity in our community by increasing participation in what we do well, which is Skateboarding and Inline skating and working with local partners to achieve our objectives”.
The ‘Summer Unlocked’ 2021 ‘EAT SLEEP SKATE REPEAT sessions combines healthy eating workshops, and a meal provided by Head Chef Laura Amos at the Dessert Deli. The HAF programme will be delivered from 26 July-20 August.
Urban Studio Sessions also provides weekly Sk8orade clubs, private 1-2-1 sessions, including art programmes.
Urban Studio Sessions are creating training and employability path routes for young people to become Skateboard GB qualified instructors. The organisation has developed a good relationship with Skateboard GB, the official governing body for skateboarding in the UK. In recent weeks Urban Studio Sessions have trained and provided official skateboard England certification for two young people aged 18-24 years, who are ready and equipped to support the project this summer.
During the pandemic Urban Studio Sessions loaned over 60 skateboards and inline skates to families across Wandsworth and other south London boroughs, offering virtual tuition. The organisation encouraged children and parents to upload video clips, and combined this with face-to-face support in line with government advice.
“At least 95% of children and young people who entered this programme progressed quickly from beginner to intermediate level. They are able to kickflip, Olley, confidently glide the ramps and continue to independently access local skate parks”.
Its work has been praised by supporters including schools, parents, the Mayor of Wandsworth, local funder the Big local SW11, Mayor of London Stronger Communities Fund and Skateboard GB.
To register your child on the EAT SLEEP SKATE REPEAT Summer Unlocked programme click here.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
August 4, 2021
