- Hi Everyone,
Well who would have thought that after 10 months of Covid we would still be locked down. We would like to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone that has supported Rollerworld through these incredibly difficult times, whether it be our previous Crowdfunder that helped keep us going, emails of support or even coming to Rollerworld and skating when we were allowed to be open for those short weeks. We will be forever grateful to all of you.
We feel the Crowdfunder Pay It Forward is a great way for us to raise the much needed funds to keep this fantastic and unique venue open, but also gives you the opportunity to purchase something you can look forward to. From sessions, karaoke, parties to just skating with family and friends, we have it covered for you.
Thank you for taking the time to read through our Crowdfunder. We would like to tell you a little about us, Rollerworld Europes finest Roller Rink and our journey up to buying Rollerworld just over 2 years ago and the hurdles we have had since March and beyond and why we need your help more than ever now.
About us
How we met
Jason and Anne met in November 1997 when Anne decided to start an Inline Roller Hockey Club in Colchester, She contacted the governing body for The British Roller Hockey Association and was introduced to Jason who helped get her club ready to join a league and start playing in games. Anne had 3 teams at the time Seniors, Juniors and Peewees called the Colchester Cougars. Jason ran the largest club in the UK called the Demons with more than 10 teams and having won many national and international trophies.
Family
It wasn’t until 2001 that Anne and Jason finally got it together and started a relationship, after a few years Jason moved in with Anne and her 2 boys Adam and Ashley, all playing hockey together for many years. They successfully ran Jasons shop Demon Xtreme Sports together in Colchester having moved it from Harlow in 2003. They are a very close family unit having been through some really tough times in the short time they have been together.
Adversity
Fire took Demon Xtreme in the Cowdray Centre in 2006 totally destroying their business. If that wasn’t bad enough the whole family had a major car accident in 2007 leaving the whole family injured, Jason broke everything down his left side and was unable to walk for 2 years, Anne had terrible back injuries resulting in back surgery and PTSD, Ashley had severe whiplash and suffered terrible anxiety and Adam had terrible internal injuries resulting in him losing his duodenum and part of his pancreas, leaving him with Chronic Fatigue, ME and other long term problems.
Strength
But they picked themselves up after many years of recuperation and came back stronger. They built a Skatepark for the community, built and ran the very successful Ice Slider in Colchester Castle Park resulting in Andy Starr asking them to buy and take over Rollerworld.
Out of adversity can come great success.
Rollerworld
About
https://www.rollerworld.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/DXRollerworldcolchester
Rollerworld is known as the UKs and Europe’s Finest Roller Rink having celebrated its 30th Birthday during lockdown in May last year. It is also said that Rollerworld is one of the best Rinks in the world being rated in the top 10, we were due to have the Skate critic come over and evaluate the rink last year from America but maybe this can happen in the next year.
Rollerworld is one of the UKs crown jewels venues and is known by most true skaters. It has produced some of the UKs finest skaters over the years and is always mentioned when people ask where is a good place to skate.
The Rink
The rink is one of the largest in the uk, it is covered with the highest grade Canadian maple floor which makes it so smooth to skate, it also has the famous fan pattern so you always follow the grain. 1200 lasers were used when building the rink to make it one of the best surfaces in the world to skate on. Some of our regulars travel from as far as Nottingham every week to skate at Rollerworld, this makes us so proud to own something so amazing.
The rink is 50m x 25m with a full light show including lasers and some of the best lights you will see. It’s the one place we guarantee will make your kids scream when we switch off the main lights and turn on those disco lights, eat your heart out Saturday Night Fever.
At Rollerworld
Rollerworld is not just a skating Rink, we have a huge bar and seating area at one end overlooking the rink, where you can enjoy, wine, beer cocktails or your favourite tipple. You can even have a dance or a jam on our new dance floor. We have a great café serving great quality food, with the new menu changes and new vegan options we promise you won’t be disappointed when eating here.
During this last lockdown we have added the very first Karaoke Party Room in Essex. This will add to our birthday party packages for both kids and adults creating the best nights out available in Essex.
Our quasar experience is having a total overhaul and once we are open and funds become available we will have some very exciting news about our arena, so watch out for more information.
Effects Of Covid
The Money
As you can imagine Rollerworld is a huge venue and the costs even closed are astronomical. We are losing in excess £5000 a week when we are closed, this is with rent and our fixed overheads. The government grants barely even cover the costs of our furloughed staff let alone pay the bills.
We have now been closed 7 months since March with no light at the end of the tunnel, we have missed our busiest period now between October and March as we feel we won’t open until at least the end of March if we are lucky. In the summer 2020 everyone opened beginning of July, but we had to wait until the middle of August, having our hopes and our customers hopes dashed 4 times. If we don’t raise funds now we just won’t make it through the summer when it is more quiet.
If we close, Rollerworld will close forever and Colchester, the UK and Europe will not see a facility like this again. This makes us so sad as we have fought so hard to keep it open throughout these terrible times, but we are now rapidly running out of funds. So it is with a heavy heart that we again have to ask for your help.
What the moneys for
The money raised will go towards all of our fixed overheads for the next 8 months, rent, utilities, building upkeep, stock replacement and staff costs not covered by furlough, to get us through the time we are locked down and through our more quiet period between May and September. The struggle will be hard but with your help and support we feel positive we will get through this.