AN enthusiastic group of skaters that uses the Rosebud Skate Park is calling on community support to improve the park’s facilities.
A non-profit group called the Janice Earth Community, led by local skater Lenny Richardson, is putting out the call to help secure council support, money and labour to construct a quarter pipe ramp and installed, and some other improvements.
Richardson said the plans were drawn up in 2017 and one of his concreter friends was willing to construct the ramp.
“We are the only skate park I have ever seen that doesn’t have a transition ramp, and no one understands why,” he said.
“It would be great to get one, and we already have people willing to help, so we just need council on board and the community to help us.”
Richardson said the ramp could become something of a “tourist attraction”, and bring more visitors.
The Janice Earth Community regularly holds skate competitions and festivals under the banner of Wax The Park, with crowds of up to 350 people and 70 skaters.
Richardson said money raised from donations from his skate shop and the competition events had already paid for a new skate rail at the local skate park.
“Now we want to make the park even better,” he said.
He said he was looking for someone with the qualifications to assist with the permits and legalities for the project, and “basically anybody with any influence in our community that can help”.
“We are all excited and the future is looking bright on Janice Earth,” he said.
Janice Earth Community is named after Richardson’s mother, Maria, who he said was a school teacher on the Mornington Peninsula, and “advocate for the underprivileged”.
Janice Earth Skateboards can be found on Facebook and Instagram, or through Rye Bendigo Bank.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 24 January 2023
