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Skateboard

Folkestone's F51 skatepark summer skateboard design competition

This summer The Sports Trust charity and Folkestone's F51 skatepark have teamed up with local businesses Holiday Extras and Oak Creative Design to give local kids the chance to learn skateboard design from professionals, build their own boards and then hone their skills on them, for free, at the skatepark.

Part of the trust's programme is to offer a summer camp to local children on free school meals, during the six week programme children receive nutritious cooked meals, food education and a dynamic range of sports coaching. In addition to this, the children will be taught by local artists and design professionals from Oak Creative Design - some of whom are themselves avid skaters - how to design and build their own boards.

The programme runs all summer, with the designers visiting for training workshops every Thursday until Aug 18, when the final designs will be photographed and uploaded to the competition website for the public vote. The four best boards will go on to win either a theatre break to London, or a stay at one of Holiday Extras Breaks' theme parks or other attractions.

Chris Kent, COO at F51/The Sports Trust said:

"As a charity, we are committed to removing barriers to participation in sports. Earlier this year we released an initiative called 'Shred Club' which enables local young people to access our world-class skatepark for just £1 a month. We noticed tremendous benefits for those taking part, but also observed inequalities in access to equipment. For many, the cost of a skateboard is a huge investment that is hard to justify, or simply not possible, with current costs of living.

We are deeply grateful to have teamed up with Holiday Extras and Oak Creative for our Holiday Camps programme. Thanks to their support, children on free school meals can not only take away their very own skateboard but have been exposed to creative career paths whilst learning valuable design skills."

Simon Hagger, Deputy CEO at Holiday Extras, said:

"We're always keen to support creative initiatives and do what we can to help local kids, and so with the design agency we have in-house, keen skaters amongst the team and a large choice of fun UK breaks we can offer as prizes for the best design we couldn't pass up the chance to get involved. F51 and The Sports Trust are doing truly great work helping children in Folkestone benefit from a really positive summer camp experience, and we're just happy that our designers can join in and teach them some of the design skills we use in our business every day."

Voting for the best skateboard design opens on Monday 22nd August. There will be four age categories, with a Holiday Extras Break for the winner in each category.