Skate Ramp Project Gives RISE to New Skills

As part of the Shire of Augusta Margaret River’s RISE (Resilient Innovative Skilled Employed) Program, local young people have been participating in an innovative skate ramp construction project over the past five weeks.

Run as part of a special collaboration between the Shire of Augusta Margaret River, the Concrete Club and Cowaramup Men’s Shed, the program has seen seven young people take part in weekly 1.5 hours sessions covering an introduction to carpentry, with building skate obstacles as the ultimate goal.

Each young person was partnered with a mentor from the Cowaramup Men’s Shed to learn the skills of planning, measuring, cutting, drilling and safe practices when operating power tools. The project has now come to end with young people having successfully created four skate obstacles including a Manual Pad, Launch Pad, Micro Quarter Pipe and a Micro Spine.

Jacque Ashworth from the Concrete Club, who is also a local youth and community services worker, supported the mentors and young people throughout the program.

Coordinator Community Planning and Development Jason Cleary said the program was a great example of what could be achieved by working together.

“This collaboration between the Shire, the Concrete Club and the Men’s Shed has delivered some brilliant results for all involved,” he said.

“Young people in particular have not only built something that’s of huge interest to them, they have also learned new skills, got a great sense of satisfaction of seeing the result of their hard work, learned to work with people of all ages and created something that the wider community will benefit from.”

“I’d like to thank Jacque Ashworth and all the members of the Cowaramup Men’s Shed who made this innovative local project come to life as part of our RISE program, and the young people involved for their enthusiasm and dedication.”

The skate obstacles will now be used in community outreach programs to help other young people connect with the skate community and learn new skills. The young people who took part in this program will also have the opportunity to be involved in teaching skate skills to others using the ramps they have built, creating further skillsets.

To find out more about upcoming RISE workshops and events, stay tuned to amrshire.wa.gov.au/RISE or contact the Shire’s Community Development team by phone 08 9780 5255 or email [email protected].

The Concrete Club in partnership with the Shire of Augusta Margaret River are currently running a drop-in space for young people at the Margaret River Youth Precinct Zone Room on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The Concrete Club also facilitate a number of mentoring programs for local young people, including roller-skating, skateboarding and skate photography. To find out how to get involved please email [email protected].

RISE is proudly supported by Lotterywest through their COVID relief fund.

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Image: A special collaboration between the Shire of Augusta Margaret River's RISE Program, the Concrete Club and Cowaramup Men’s Shed has seen local young people gain new skills by building skate obstacles. More high resolution images available here.  Image credit: Ben Harvey