Build an Indoor Skatepark for Derby

Aim

Help us create an inclusive community indoor skatepark in central Derby —bringing everyone together through skating, creativity, and fun.

BIG NEWS - We have done it! Target reached :-)

This is a massively emotional moment for all of us at Flo.  Back in the dark days of February and March 2025, we didn't know if a new Flo would ever happen ... now we are nearly there.

Some big news items:

• Your donations will allow the matched ££££ from Sport England to be activated and the funding to be deposited into the charity's account to pay for the next phase of building the new Flo.
• The lovely folks from VIY (Volunteer It Yourself) have helped us to find funding to allow their team to bring Derby locals in to work alongside their expert tradespeople in building the park.  This starts mid-November.
• ...full steam ahead!
  
  
• We will set stretch targets to keep the Crowdfunder going if more rewards come in or commercial partners are found. You will be able to see if we can make any of this happen by keeping an eye on the Crowdfunder.

Who are we?

We are Flo Charitable Trust, a passionate community organisation dedicated to creating safe, inclusive spaces where everyone in Derby can thrive through frequent physical activity, creativity, and social connection. We cared for and developed Flo Skatepark in nearby Nottingham for the last 7 years, developing successful programmes to develop skateboarding and were one of only four Talent Pathway Hubs in England:

• Beginners of all ages, with more than 11,300 participants introduced to skateboarding and its wider community, culture and approach to informal and peer-led learning and learning-from-failure, with the resilience, self-confidence and positive identities that this helps build
• We have delivered both paid and free-to-access Women and Girls sessions for more than 5 years, with participant stories including mother and daughter groups, our oldest female skateboarder (66), and a wave of girls who became some of our hardest charging skateboarders, including a two-times National Champion and theonly UK female skater to podium in both ‘Park’ and ‘Street’ disciplines 
• Working alongside existing Alternative Education Providers to offer a welcoming environment for students struggling in mainstream schooling
• Regular over 30's sessions
• Home school groups
• Regular Scout, Duke of Edinburgh Award and School groups
• Funded LGBTQ+ sessions with a focus on community, coaching and fun
• Local Community Group sessions from a diverse range of cultures
• ...and of course session after session of amazing provision for the existing ‘core’ community of committed skateboarders across the North Midlands

Our plan is to bring these sessions and more to The Eagle Market, managed by the Derbion shopping centre in the centre of Derby City, with whom we have agreed a 10-year lease. We will be working closely with the skaters and people of Derby to deliver an amazing space to get them physically active, boost their happiness and come together as a community.

FLO - Your Skatepark

Why are we crowdfunding?

We’re raising funds to build a fully accessible, community-focused skatepark inside the old Eagle Market. We have already secured the commitment of £15,000 of ‘skateable space’ grant-funding from Skateboard GB, via their partnership with Subway. We have also received a generous commitment from Rollersnakes to donate to this Crowdfunder campaign. Rollersnakes are the UK’s oldest online action sports retailer and are headquartered in Derby and are also generously supporting us with many of the rewards on offer to our supporters. We are in discussion with Volunteer-it-Yourself (VIY), who partnered with us to refresh our Nottingham space in 2021, and will provide dozens of construction focused City & Guilds qualifications for local young people Not-in-Education-Employment-or-Training (NEET). VIY will resource the ancillary amenities, including a classroom and toilet, reception area and perimeter barriers and will work with us to install and fit out the programmable (modular) street plaza area.

The Eagle Market then...

The Eagle Market now.  Help us to turn this space into a thriving community hub.

But there is still a funding gap for the design and reconfiguration and installation of the bowl and transition (ramps) area using materials currently in storage. Therefore our target for this Crowdfunder UK campaign is £20,000, which include match-funding from Sport England’s The Movement Fund.

If this campaign is succesful with your help, this will in turn unlock further capital and revenue grant-funding, enabling the skatepark to evolve and improve over time, following our target to open in November this year.

Your support will help us transform an empty space into a vibrant hub for all ages and backgrounds, fostering fun, friendship, and confidence for everyone.

How a Community-Focused Indoor Skatepark Can Help Derby

Derby City had an estimated 261,260 residents in 2021 and is one of the two major urban areas within the East Midlands Combined County Authority, alongside Nottingham (which has 319,978 residents within the significantly wider urban conurbation or ‘sprawl’ of more than 660,000 people). The two cities have large and distinctive skateboarding scenes, and are connected by good rail, bus and road links – meaning our skatepark will serve a large number of current and potential new users.

Locating our skatepark within the city centre will enable direct access for deprived communities, removing transport and cost barriers. Low-cost or free sessions will ensure participation even for those most at risk of exclusion from sport, play and other physical activities.

Skateboarding appeals to those excluded from mainstream sport due to cost, stigma, or lack of culturally relevant spaces. Indoor urban sports can attract marginalised young people, girls, ethnically diverse groups, and others who don’t engage with traditional sport.  Our charity model fills gaps for those unable to afford gym or club memberships, providing a safe, social, and empowering alternative for youth from low-income homes.

About 12.5% of Derby’s young people aged 16-24 are Not-in-Education-Employment-or-Training (NEET), mirroring national figures but with higher risk in deprived and ethnically diverse areas.  Engagement in community sport lowers NEET rates and mitigates the associated “scarring effect” of unemployment on young people’s mental and physical health. Targeted outreach, mentoring, and schemes at the skatepark can build employability, skills, confidence, and re-engagement. 

Derby is highly diverse in terms of ethnicity, nationality, religion and faith, with a large British Asian population (15.6% of residents describe themselves as Asian). Over 14% of Derby’s residents were born outside the UK, with especially rapid growth in the Asian community. The skatepark’s inclusive programming and partnerships with community groups ensure sessions are culturally relevant, creating a safe space for ethnic minority youth often underserved in traditional sport settings. This fosters cohesion, reduces exclusion and helps combat inter-community tensions - a particular concern following the riots of summer 2024. Research led by Phil Tulba for the European Commission in 2021, the Sport4Values project, found a much higher proportion of young people who engaged in urban sports also demonstrated values consistent with community cohesion, inclusion, diversity and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, compared to other cohorts of young people and older adults.

How we’ll spend the money raised
Transparency matters! Funds will go towards facility fit-out, and ramps, ramps, ramps! Our budget includes construction, adaptive features, safety equipment, and opening costs to ensure the skatepark is welcoming for all of Derby and across the East Midlands.  

If we hit our main target of £20,000 – including Sport England match-funding – this will fund:

• £10,000 towards the materials and labour costs for the design, assembly and installation of the bowl/flow-park area; and 
• £10,000 match-funding with VIY towards the classroom and ancillary amenities.

The grant from Skateboard GB will fund the transport and installation of the vert ramp and additional resource from VIY will fund the fit-out of the street area.

If we exceed our target and proceed to a ‘stretch’ target of £25,000, this additional funding will be spent on:

• Additional resource for the bowl/flow-park area, including participatory design

workshops and consultation with Skateboard GB and World Skate (the International Federation) to ensure world-class competition relevance as well as accessibility and inclusivity; and

• Revenue (project) resource to support initial programming, including free and subsidised sessions.

Community Impact

We will work to maximise the benefits of our skatepark for Derby's society, economy and environment, and will minimise and account for any disbenefits, ensuring our project makes maximum possible use of local suppliers in its design, fabrication and fit-out (working with partners ViY to also ensure maximum work experience and training benefits for local young people), reducing material transportation emissions, carbon and other waste through recycling a significant proportion of the wooden and steel skatepark elements from the original site in Nottingham.  The skatepark's central location will ensure it directly supports Sport England’s Movement Fund priorities: helping those who face the biggest barriers to physical activity, tackling health inequalities, and uniting the community through sport, creativity and collaboration.

We’re not just counting the number of ramps, but the difference each session makes: from getting Derby’s least active residents moving, to creating safer, happier futures for children and young people at risk. Here’s how your support — and Sport England’s investment — will deliver real, measurable change:

Outputs in year 1:

• A minimum of 6,000 participant visits in year one with at least 50 free/subsidised sessions targeting young people and adults who are otherwise inactive or least active.
• 25 young people residents in Derby City who are currently NEET will complete accredited training via VIY, with other local partners engaging alongside us.  An additional 10 young people from outside Derby will have the opportunity to engage and experience some form of training and work experience.
• We will initiate at least 10 community or civic partnership projects engaging diverse sections of the community and/or target groups, with at least 1 activation (event, workshop, lesson or session) per partnership.

Outcomes by year 2:

• An increase by the start of year 2 in the number of children, young people and adults from target groups who are engaging in regular (at least monthly) physical activity compared to the year 1 baseline. 
• Improved personal wellbeing survey responses from at-risk and/or NEET young people at the start of year 2 compared to the year 1 baseline and/or a control group.
• At least 75% of the ViY participants  from the year 1 fit out (both from Derby City and outside Derby) completing and being awarded the Level 3 City & Guilds qualification
• An increase in the number of girls and women, ethnically diverse participants, and participants who are differently-abled and or have SEN and/or Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs by the start of year 2 compared to the year 1 baseline and accounting for additionality.

Long-term Impact:

• A clear positive contribution to Derby's economic recovery measured through a net increase in Gross Value Added (GVA) over 5 years (by 2030) and accounting for leakage, spillover and displacement.
• Small but measurable improvements to overall health indicators, as collected by Public Health England, particularly related to physical activity and personal wellbeing in Derby City over 5 years (by 2030).
• Improved pride-of-place for Derby, particularly as expressed by children and young adults, to be measured by a stakeholder survey by the end of year 2 (interim) and again after 5 years (by 2030).  Impacts will include statements of positive identity, feeling of belonging to a community, and positive views of social cohesion, environmental protection and social equity.

How you can play your part
Here are four simple ways to help make this vision real:

• Make a pledge. Every donation counts — act now to keep our momentum going!
• Spread the word. Share our project on social media and help us reach more supporters. If you’ve already pledged a donation, you have made a huge impact. Please share this, which will encourage others and grow the ‘crowd’ even further! If you can’t afford to donate, we absolutely understand in these challenging times – but you can still make a huge difference by sharing, ‘liking’ and commenting on social media, and having face-to-face conversations with friends and family.
• Offer rewards. Local businesses can donate products or services — and we’ll give you a shout-out! These can be small – as much as you’re able to contribute – or they can be larger, which could lead to longer-term partnerships between your business and the skatepark, including advertising, sponsorship and collaborative projects for your stakeholders, staff and customers.
• Fundraise for us. Host your own activity or sponsored event — just use the 'contact project' button to get started. It’s quick and easy. Check out some other Crowdfunder campaigns for skateparks to see how fun this can be, from as many kickflips you can do in a day, to charity skates from your home to another destination, to art sales and film nights – the best thing about fundraising for a skatepark is it can be fun and can bring your skate crew, friends and wider community together to support something life-changing.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made