Cavan to get skatepark in 12 months
Paul Neilan
The council has received €80,000 for the construction of a skatepark in Cavan Town to be completed inside 12 months.
Cavan County Council received the money for the project under the Sports Capital Grants Programme announced last week, which distributed close to €700K in funding, primarily to GAA clubs for updating or developing facilities.
A “very happy” John Moore, the Cavan Town man behind the 'Cavan Skatepark Army’ page on Facebook, which has over 600 members, has long been campaigning for the facility, and is to sit down with the council to iron out the design and details but first he is looking for the support of local businesses.
Plans
“They [the council] have told me that they want me to deal with the skatepark companies and to go over designs and pick what best suits the kids of Cavan, I have already made contact with two of the companies and we are working on designs that will fit into the budget,” said Mr Moore.
“€80,000 is not much when it comes to building a skatepark but it is better than nothing. I have being contacting some local business to see if they would be interested in sponsoring the project so we can get a more realistic budget to work with - in the region of an extra €20,000.
“Don’t get me wrong now we can do something cool with €80,000 but we have to take into account newcomers that will be interested so that will change the plans a lot. If we make the park too easy the kids will progress really quickly and will lose interest in the park as it will have nothing to offer them.
“We have to satisfy the more experienced skaters as well, otherwise this whole thing could turn out to be a complete waste of time and money. I already have the design in my head, I just need these companies to get it done for our budget,” he said.
'Big difference’
John has practically been a one-man campaign from promotional fliers to surveys of interest, research to lobbying, he bore the cost out of his own pocket.
“For me it’s nothing to do with money, to me it’s an awesome way of life and I would do it all again with a smile on my face because I know for a fact that this skatepark will make a very big difference in the life of the kids of Cavan.
“This is happening now because of people who went out of their way to get it out: I couldn’t have done it without the help and support of my wife and family; Janey Quigley and her awesome kids - they spent their weekends walking around handing out flyers; The Anglo Celt for putting us in the paper where people can’t miss it, and then you have people like Paddy Connaughton [Cavan County Council] and Nadine McCormilla [Cavan Sports Partnership] who finally made it happen.
“It makes me happy to know that my kids will have this skatepark, I know now they will have a safe and friendly place where they can go and skate and hang with friends without getting into trouble out of pure boredom,” he said.
'Open letter’
“I would like to do one more thing for for this skatepark and that’s to get an open letter out there for all the local business, the local economy will feel the benefits, the local restaurants can do skatepark specials, the clothes shops can stock skating brands and footwear, the sports shops can stock decks, wheels and so on, they will also benefit from the kids not hanging around the town outside the shops,” he added.
'Delight’
A delighted County Chief Executive Ger Finn said the park should be skatable inside a year.
“The next stage of the process will be to sit down with interested parties to ensure that the design of the park is in line with the best in the country. Skate parks take many
forms from being above ground to being partially submerged.
“We will be organising a meeting in the near future, where anyone with an interest in the skate park can attend to discuss the design, et cetera. It is hoped that the project will be completed within twelve months and the council will fund ten per cent of the project. The Skate park will be insured by Irish Public Bodies,” he said.