Sutton Ramp Events works with young people locally who skate and BMX.  Our aim is to facilitate opportunities for young people to pursue skateboarding, inline skating and BMXing in safety, engaging them in positive activities rather than anti-social behaviour.   Through this work we hope to enable young people to access skate facilities, increase their sense of self-value, improve community cohesion and help the young people’s opinions to be heard.

 

It started after Soul in the City 2004 in response to the success of the skate park project Sutton cluster ran.  The organisers discovered a real need for structured, supervised activities for young people who participate in skateboarding, BMXing and inline skating.  So Christians from several local churches formed Sutton Ramp Events to respond to this need.

 

Drawing on a dedicated team of volunteers we run skateboarding, BMXing and inline skating events (called Elevate) at local outdoor skateparks and coach trips to indoor skateparks.  

The events consist of supervised

skating, competitions, music and skills sharing.  We get up to 100 young people coming along to ride or skate and often their friends and family

come along to watch.  We also run taster sessions for community groups.  Our work has been instrumental in bringing together different youth sub-cultures in the area and helping young people to

become more tolerant of each other and

the authorities such as the police and

council.

 

This year we are purchasing mobile skate ramps which will enable a greater number of young people to get into skateboarding.  We will be working closely with the Safer Neighbourhood Police teams to take the mobile ramps to areas where young people like to hang out.  We hope to take the ramps into schools to run after-school clubs and potentially skateboarding as a sports option. We will also use the ramps at local carnivals and festivals as well as using them at the regular events that we already run.  We are also working towards our long term vision of building and running an indoor skate and youth centre.

 

 

The work of Sutton Ramp Events is driven by Christians’ desire for social action to benefit young people in and around Sutton, working on the premise that actions speak louder than words. However, it is important that these youngsters are told about Christianity so a group of people have formed an organisation called “Impact Sutton”, whose purpose is to share the gospel message.  Working parallel to Sutton Ramp Events, but not overlapping with their work, Impact Sutton seeks to find new and culturally relevant ways of sharing the gospel.  It currently employs a part-time youthworker to lead this work and is currently looking to raise more funds to continue this work.

 

If you would like to find out more about the work of Sutton Ramp Events or Impact Sutton or feel able to contribute towards the work in any way, please do get in touch with us.  Contact Judith Smith on 020 8642 8117 or email    info@elevate-sutton.com.