A charity which has plans to build a pump track alongside a village skate park is appealing for further community support.
Ride Mendips has secured more than £30,000 to build a pump track in Cheddar, next to the village skatepark on Sharpham Road Playing Fields, and aims to hit its £100,000 target by spring.
A pump track is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden by skateboarders and bikers using momentum through body movements, instead of pedalling or pushing.
The charity has already raised £7,000 from two Cheddar Extravaganza events at the village hall pre-Covid, £2,500 from the Thatchers Foundation, £500 from Mendip Rotary Club and received £2,500 from the Sedgemoor District Council Community Fund, as well as secured funding commitments of £20,000 from the National Grid Community Fund.
Ride Mendips, a charity run by a team of mountain bikers, is now waiting to hear back from its major applications; a community grant from Hinkley Point C, British Cycling’s Places To Ride scheme, as well as a £2,500 grant from the Wessex Water Community Foundation.
MORE: Campaign launched to build £100k pump track
Ride Mendips chairman, Grant George, said: “The project began in March 2019 and since then planning permission has been put in, we have secured £30,000 of funding commitments and we have run a number of fundraising events to support the scheme.
“We should hear from Hinkley Point C about our grant bid at the end of February and the British Cycling Places To Ride fund at the beginning of March.
"We are focussed on completing our fundraising by spring, and if these grants come through then we look set to instruct a contractor to initiate the build in the summer.
“We believe the pump track will be a valuable addition to sporting facilities in the Cheddar Valley and we are looking for as much community support as possible.
“We would greatly appreciate people getting involved in our survey, donations of materials towards the pump track build, equipment to run cycling and coaching sessions, prizes to be given or auctioned, or simply cash towards the overall project costs.”
Construction is also underway to improve the sports pavilion next to the skate park at Sharpham Road Playing Fields.
A children’s play area has already been installed next to the skate park and the pavilion upgrades are scheduled for completion in March.
For more information about the project and to support the cause, log-on to www.ridemendips.org/
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here