WHEN I was mayor of Haverfordwest in 1992, I approached a large number of skateboarders with a request not to dishonour ‘the fallen’ of two World Wars by skating around the base of the Salutation War Memorial with the promise, that if they did, I would do all that I could to have a proper and safe skatepark built in the town.
I was little prepared for the hostility that my first and subsequent committees endured, both from the public and most of the ruling members of the then PDC – Preseli District Council and the Town Council.
Much of the negative and ill-informed comments were aimed at those ‘early day’ skateboarders, which in the fullness of time proved totally unfounded. Not only did the skateboarding youth of the 1990s honour their promise to respect the town’s cenotaph, but some of them more than earned my faith, trust and respect by maturing into dedicated citizens – a number of them are currently serving in HM Forces, another a doctor in London and yet another a practicing solicitor.
I now spring my comments forward to 2013 and the Western Telegraph article on May 22nd reporting the outcome of the H.S.A public meeting with a photograph of a county councillor.
This regrettably failed to recognise the true architects of a six-year-long campaign by the H.S.A, the members of which, based on my understanding of the long drawn out complexities of working with various Pembrokeshire county council departments, planning applications, building regulations – Welsh Office, Welsh Water, fundraising and Big Lottery application – all of which endorses my belief that the imminent build (June 24th start date) of the skate park has been achieved, with the already acknowledged help of Stephen Crabb MP.
But more so by the selfless dedication of just seven people, who over the past six years as a working committee, with no previous experience in such matters, have met every two weeks often late into the night working on the skatepark project, plus weekends spent fundraising and form-filling, all at their own expense, none of them having professionally managed a project of this calibre previously.
This resulted in the H.S.A, team securing the £427,213 from the Big Lottery to enable the project to go ahead.
Never in my lifetime have I had the honour, privilege even, of witnessing how well gelled the H.S.A. are as a working team. The harmony they project is palpable, and I publically thank them one and all for freely dedicating so many years of their lives to get our kids off of the streets and into a safe haven in which to practice and enjoy this fast growing sport/past time.
Chairman: Geraint Williams; Deputy Chair: Simon Griffiths; Secretary: Alison Turner; Treasurer: Sue Walton; Minutes Secretary: Krysytna Higgins; Parent Rep: Pauline Phillips; Fundraisers: Lisa Marshal and Mike Davies.
The opening of the completed park later this year will have paid the ‘debt of honour’ by default if not by design, and I for one will loudly sing their praises for they achieved something that I could not.
MIKE DAVIES
Director the H.S.A.
