One of the biggest indoor skate parks in Europe will be offering an action-packed day of tricks and stunts to help raise awareness of mental health issues.
Rampworx on Leckwith Road will play host to the event on Sunday February 15th, and will see skaters coming together from across Merseyside to tackle the various obstacles and ramps. Local musical talent will kick-off the event at 1pm and will include Ska-punk/dub band Bolshy, rock and roll group Tiger Factory and acoustic singer Eleanor Nelly.
Funding is being provided by the Mark McQueen Foundation which was set up after former rider, Mark McQueen, sadly plagued by mental illness and depression took his own life in 2007, at just 27 years of age.
Additional support will come from CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), with Rampworx donating a percentage of their ticket sales back to the charities that helped them.
Rampworx Creative Manager, Matthew Dearden, told JMU Journalism: “The event is being held to help tackle mental health issues that took a young lad’s life, and since then we have worked with CALM for a number of years. Currently mental health is one of the biggest killers for males aged 20–45 in the UK, so holding this event is one of the ways we can help raise awareness for this issue.”
The skate park was established in 1997 by Ian Robinson and Rob Godfrey and has been a big hit amongst locals and world renowned pros. Due to its popularity, Rampworx relocated in 2013 to 70,000 square feet in Bootle.
Video report by Daniel Wilson, JMU Journalism TV
Mr Dearden added: “We have always carried out our charitable aims and objectives within the community, and we have done this for the best part of two decades. Most recently we went to a school in the Wirral to teach children with learning disabilities how to ride bikes at no cost to the school.
“A lot of people may not know about us but we have been here a while and we continue to bang our drum. I think the main point I would like people to take away from this event is that there are places out there that can help people with mental health issues, and that they are not alone. We are right here on your doorstep.”