First aid course for skaters (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

First aid course for skaters

IT is a sport where a few cuts and bruises are to be expected, but skateboarders in Cirencester will soon be able to bandage their wounds themselves.

Problems with supervision have postponed the decision on the skatepark site near Kingshill Lane for many months.

But the town council has finally given the green light to the £50,000 scheme and insurance matters are nearly in order.

And, thanks to four young volunteers, supervision will no longer be a problem as they are about to embark on a first aid course.

Teenagers Jonny Much, Mitch Buggins, Craig Quilter and Ian Jennings are all part of the Impact Youth Centre in Lewis Lane, Cirencester.

Youth worker Vicki Wright said: "At the centre we know the young people who are interested in skating and the ones who want the park.

"I have been involved in the Kingshill plans for the last year and it makes a lot of sense for them to do the first aid course.

"It will be St John's Ambulance that do it and it will be their normal first aid course.

"It's something they will have for their future lives and can put down on their CV, so it makes sense to do it properly."

Vicki says she is organising the first aid course for sometime this November as that is when all four of the skateboarders can next get together.

The Kingshill skatepark is due to be built in the coming months once Cirencester Town Council has come to an agreement with the insurance company.

Vicki said: "The course is also great for putting the responsibility onto young people. Then they are more likely to take care and to look after stuff, and they will. I am sure they can manage it."

And once they have the first aid experience hopefully the skateboarders will not have to wait long before the skatepark is actually built.

Vicki added: "We are really pushing for Christmas time. We have the designs in place and they have said what they like. It's just getting it all finished."