The new and improved Banchory skate park has finally reopened after five years of planning and renovations.
Banchory Skate Park Group, a registered charity, has been working on revamping the Bellfield Park site since 2017.
It is now a 1,640sqft facility, boasting new ramps, bowls and features perfect for skaters and bikers alike.
Seeing how people in the town relied on the park throughout lockdown gave the group an extra boost of motivation to push towards its goal.
A local youth group was at the heart of the project, with the charity ensuring the teens were involved in every decision and that the completed skate park matched their vision.
Chairman of Banchory Skate Park Group, Russ Crichton, said the feeling of finally seeing the facility in use was “brilliant”.
‘Really rewarding seeing everyone on it’
A ribbon-cutting ceremony and subsequent jam session on Saturday marked Banchory skate park as officially open once more.
It was attended by everyone involved in the project from supporters to skaters – with many taking to the ramps to put it to the test.
Despite the cool autumnal weather, the day remained dry and sunny which meant the condition was perfect for taking on the concrete ramps.
“It was so busy, it was brilliant,” Mr Crichton said.
“We had loads of visitors today – we had a bunch of guys from Dundee and heaps of skaters and BMXers from Aberdeen.
“It’s such a good community, it’s so friendly and open and it was brilliant to get those guys out testing the new park.
“Then we also had lots of new people, kids who have never tried skateboarding or BMXing before, and they were flying around the park.”
He added: “It was really rewarding seeing everyone on it today, I was really chuffed.”
Mr Crichton said the jam session went down really well with the visitors, with local kids shouting out for their favourite tricks on the mics.
Instead of just rewarding one person as the best, the charity gave “cash for tricks”. This meant whoever performed the best trick was thrown a fiver, which worked well for the event.
The trustees are planning to work with another charity to offer BMX and skating lessons in the new year, as well as hosting a contest in May.
Community support helped project to the end
The local community rallied together to fundraise for the new park and to help cut costs once work got under way in April this year.
The charity also received support from Sport Scotland, the Suez Trust, EB Scotland and FCC Communities Trust.
Because of the funding and community support they were able to build a “much larger” skatepark than they originally planned, especially when the price of materials started to soar.
He said: “More than anything, I want to say thank you to all of the different groups within the Banchory community and all the individuals that put their time and effort into the trustees.
“It’s been really good working with all these different community groups.
“And the Banchory roundtable gave us a really good donation towards the end of the build which helped see us through to the end.
“Because of Covid and Brexit all the prices of everything had gone way up so we were at risk of not being able to build what we did in the end.
“It meant we built a really good facility, that will be really good for people coming to visit Banchory and increase footfall in the village.”
Best photos from skate park opening
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