Let’s Go Skate started off in October 2016 when our instructor Jason realised the skateboard lessons he had begun teaching as a side job at primary schools in Huntingdon had enough interest gathering for him to begin operating properly as a sole trader. As more schools got onboard with after school clubs a desire for lessons to take place at skate parks around Cambridgeshire started to become apparent as young people took their skills from the playground and applied them to the ramps. An opportunity popped up in the Summer of 2017 which saw Let’s Go Skate receive funding to offer free lessons for beginners at the newly built skate park in Alconbury Weald as the area was being developed for a new community to begin.
Group shot at the end of one of the many free skateboard sessions Let’s Go Skate provided in Summer of 2017 at Alconbury Weald
This helped evolve Let’s Go Skate from an instructor operating as a sole trader to now becoming a social enterprise. In September of 2017 Let’s Go Skate C.I.C was officially formed as a not for profit Community Interest Company making it possible for us to apply for funding on a charity side of things but still operate as a business in other areas of the company. It was clear to Jason that Let’s Go Skate should operate this way as our ethos has always been about giving as many people as possible to experience skateboarding and not having to think profit profit profit like a businessman would. This has made it possible for us to put on free taster sessions at various different places such as at the Sawtry Annual Carnival to see if any young people end up wanting to start skateboarding properly as a hobby.
Did you know that Skateboarding is now an Olympic sport and will be featuring in Tokyo 2020?
For 2019 and onwards Let’s Go Skate is getting itself in to a position where we are ready for the influx of demand we expect to see as skateboarding makes it’s debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and wows the world. With schools now receiving Sports Premium funding we become a great option for headteachers to test out as we prepare to offer daily workshop sessions for pupils at their school on there playground. It’s also apparent to us that we need to get ourselves an indoor venue which we can call “home” for those winter cold months when it’s not possible to skateboard out in the open. We definitely have our sights on one day hopefully securing a facility like this which can offer a regular youth meeting point to take part in this lifestyle. In the meantime be sure to look out for us at your local skate park in Cambridgeshire where we continue to do private/group lessons as well as birthday parties!