Marple Skate Park Development Project

In 2011 Friends of the Park began a project to upgrade and extend the existing skatepark facilities in the park. We joined forces with Stockport Council and local skater Lewis Abbott, who campaigned to get the existing facility built back in 2000 and is still a skater today. We also gained the support of Marple Civic Society, Marple Vision Partnership and Marple Hall School.

We consulted extensively with users and the local community and held a design competition tender. In April 2015 we gained planning permission to build a new £100k facility designed by Canvas Spaces Ltd. We started fund-raising in November 2012 and with huge community support from local groups and individual had raised over £50k of funding by the end of 2016.

Thanks to another £50k via our £ for £ match-funding agreement with the council we were able to complete construction in 2017.

Introduction / Project Aim

The project aim was to refurbish and extend the existing skatepark facility in Marple Memorial Park, turning it into a destination multi-discipline wheeled-sports facility, suitable for a wide age range and level of skills, that will become the best available in the Stockport Borough.

The existing facility was built in 2000 and had been extensively used by young people since then. By 2016, as well as 16 years of wear and tear, a survey of users initiated by local secondary school pupils had shown that 80% of them felt it was no longer adequate for intermediate and advanced users and it should be extended and upgraded to satisfy their needs.

The building of the original facility was user led and in response to the survey in 2011 Friends of Memorial Park began working with Lewis Abbott, a skater who played a key role in the campaign for the original facility, a core group of experienced users, Stockport Council, Marple Civic Society, Marple Hall School and Marple Vision Partnership. As the landowner and local authority SMBC was a key partner in the project, which had the full support of local councillors.

Design developed, contractor selected and Planning Permission granted

Starting in 2011, we consulted extensively with users, completed a Design Competition Tender and selected a skatepark design and build contractor called Canvas Spaces Ltd. who worked with us to obtain planning permission to build a new £100,000 skatepark facility in the park. Canvas continued to work with us to develop the final design and to build it for us in 2017.

Fund raising and funding strategy set-backs

We had significant set-backs with two key funding strategies before achieving our target.

The first was to submit a large grant application to the Veolia Environmental Trust but during the first 18 months of our fund-raising efforts to raise the 20% they needed us to contribute they closed a site in Hyde. This moved us half a mile outside their qualifying boundary. Our second strategy was to make a large grant application to the Lafarge-Tarmac Landfill Community Fund, which we submitted in March 2015. This was reviewed by their committee in May 2015 and was unsuccessful.

"Plan C" was to continue our fund-raising efforts to increase our contribution via local fund-raising activities and small grant applications to supportive bodies while we continued to seek that elusive suitable larger grant scheme. We never did find that large scheme to help us but in August 2015 we received a huge boost to "Plan C" with a commitment from Stockport Council to match our fund-raising £1 for £1 up to £50,000.

For more details of how we raised our own £50k within the community read "Raising a total of £100,000 was the Biggest Challenge!" further down the page.

Skatepark users have been involved in every step of the process

Users of all disciplines (skateboards, in-line skates, BMX and scooters) were engaged to help develop a design brief and we issued our first enquiry to skatepark contractors in 2011. This established we would need in the region of £100,000 of funding to achieve our aim. Later, we consulted extensively with a wide age range of users and formed a user group with students from Marple Hall School and with other older users of the skatepark.

This encouraged key stakeholders to take an active role in the decision-making processes and ensured that the design met the needs of those who would use it the most. Users were involved in consultations with the public, pre-tender consultations, preparation of design briefs, evaluation of tenders and subsequent design workshops to finalise the chosen design.

Users helped us to conduct surveys with other young people and adults at a variety of local events. They  also participated in fund-raising at the events, during bag packing at local supermarkets and in school. The surveys included questions about how we should engage more with the community and led us to hold a large event at the skatepark during Marple Carnival 2013. We used some of the money raised to pay for a professional team with a skateboarder, BMX rider and compare to put on a big show. The event included demonstrations and competitions for skateboard, BMX and scooter users with prizes sponsored by local businesses.

Skatepark design developed and chosen by skatepark users

In March 2014 we met with skatepark users at Marple Hall School and put the finishing touches to our brief for a Design Competition Tender. In April 2014 the tender was issued seeking the best designs that could be achieved by contractors with a fixed budget of £100,000.

Three tenders were received in June 2014 and we displayed redacted copies of the designs to users and the community at the skatepark for the first time during Marple Carnival 2014. We obtained feedback on the designs from skatepark users and the wider public during the Carnival consultation and this was taken forward to a more formal tender scoring meeting with the user group, the project team, Stockport Council and the Chair of Marple Area Committee in July 2014.

The consultations and tender scoring processes revealed a strong preference for one of the three designs and Canvas Spaces Ltd, the winning contractor, was nominated to work with the project team and the user group to finalise their design, at no cost, and to build the skatepark should funding be secured. Here are some 3D visualisations of Canvas's tendered design:

Key observations for the chosen design were that it makes maximum use of the site and its topography by refurbishing the existing features, which are popular with users, instead of replacing them. This allows greater investment in the extended area of the site and gives much more for our budget. The scheme is well designed and laid out, includes a good mix of features and caters well for the different disciplines and abilities. The proposed Remembrance Poppy rideable signature feature fits in well with the facility’s position in a War Memorial Park and is also very relevant to the present centenaries of WWI taking place between 2014-2018.

To find our more about Canvas Spaces visit: www.canvasspaces.co.uk or www.facebook.com/canvas.spaces

Design developed with Skakepark User Group
Planning Permission GRANTED

We took great care to make the right decisions to create the best possible facility. Once the formal process of letting the tender to Canvas Spaces Ltd via SMBC was completed, we began working with their design team and the skatepark user group to develop the scheme to an advanced status suitable for planning permission. In February 2015 we held a well-attended workshop at Marple Hall Secondary School with users of all ages and disciplines to discuss the final tweaks and changes to the design prior to making the planning application.

Changes identified during the Design Review were published on-line with access for skatepark users to add further comments and a planning application was submitted on 6 March and permission was granted on 29 April 2015.

Design finalised in 2016 as we neared funding target

In the summer of 2016, as we got closer to our funding target, we began a series of meetings with contractor Canvas Spaces and the Council. There had been some issues with the impact of inflation on the 2014 tender prices and we had to remove some scope and tweak the design to keep the project within our budget. Towards the end of 2016 we agreed a revised design that addressed these issues also agreed that Friends of the Park and the council will do some of the landscaping works.

Here are some 3D visualisations of the final design:

Raising a total of £100,000 was the Biggest Challenge!

Wheeled Sports Users have also played a key role in our fund-raising activities:

In November 2012 (based on Plan A to apply for a grant from Veolia) we set ourselves a target to raise 20% (£20,000) of the money that we need from within the community via donations, small grants and sponsored fund-raising activities and events. We also set out to engage more with the public and users to develop a design that could be taken forward to obtain planning permission and support a large grant application.

By November 2013, with fantastic community support and a huge variety of funding contributions, we were over halfway to our funding target.

In February 2014 Stockport Council underpinned our success by allocating a Formal Sport Commuted Sum of £22k as further match funding.

While the tender process was ongoing we continued our fund raising efforts, seeking support from local community groups and businesses, applying for small grants and attending local events to raise money for the project.

With our initial fund-raising on-track we contacted Veolia again in May 2014 and learned that their boundaries had changed and we no longer qualified to apply to them. This was a major set-back but after a lengthy search we identified Lafarge-Tarmac as an alternative qualifying source of landfill funding and this become our Plan B.

By the end of 2014, just two years after we began, we had managed to raise over £22,000 of community funding towards the project. We are extremely proud of the diversity of funding support that we’ve received: from local events and bag-packing with skatepark users to contributions from Lions, Rotary, WI, Local Firefighters, Youth Rugby, Brass Bands, local charities and local business. As well as contributing towards our funding target this has helped to demonstrate the widespread support that the project has from within the local community.

Of course with the £22,000 from commuted sums we had over £44,000 towards the project and in March 2015 we submitted a grant application to the Lafarge-Tarmac Community Fund seeking the balance of funds that we needed to complete the project. This was reviewed in May 2015 and unfortunately our application was not successful.

We then began working on Plan C, which was to continue our fund-raising efforts to increase our contribution via local fund-raising activities and suitable large or small grant applications until we reach our target.

In August 2015 Stockport Council agreed to increase the £22k of Formal Sports Commuted Sums allocated in February 2014 by a further £28k on a £ for £ match-funding basis. This meant that they would match the money raised within the community by up to £50,000 and we would need to raise a total of £50,000 too in order to achieve our aims. This agreement had a deadline of April 2018 (when the current planning permission expired).

This £ for £ match-funding agreement was a massive step forward for the project after our previous funding strategy set-backs. It meant that every £1 raised by us was worth £2 and would enable us to get there twice as fast as before. It inspired us to push on after our set-backs and inspired the local community to get right behind us again as we pushed on to raise the balance of funds that we needed before the deadline. In 2016, our final year of fund-raising, we broke all previous records by raising over £24,000 in the year.

A full blog of our community fund-raising is featured a little further down the page.

Widespread Community Support for the Project

Throughout the project we also sought the backing of groups not in a position to lend financial support. We had great responses from our four local primary schools, who have written to support the project and whose pupils have undertaken writing and artwork projects with a skatepark theme.

Letters of support from other organisations as diverse as the Police, the Local History Society, the local Junior Football Club, the Rambling Club, local businesses and a variety of charitable groups reinforce the widespread community support that exists for the project. We also received grant contributions from the Co-Op Community Fund, Stockport Homes, Local Councillors (Marple Area Committee) and excellent support from Forever Manchester.

Community Match-Funding Raised = £51,157 (matched = £101,157)

Plus a boost to community funding from Life Leisure Stockport in March 2017

 

Here's a Mini-Blog of our fund-raising successes:

£11,750 Community Funding Award from Life Leisure in March 2017

Before Christmas the Skatepark Team and the Council became concerned about the condition of the old tarmac on the lower level of the existing skatepark. In recent months it had started to break-up in places and we were worried that it would deteriorate quickly once the new skatepark was built and it was receiving even more visitors than before. We spoke to the contractor about concreting this section during the current construction phase and learned that it would cost just under £12,000 more.

This level of extra fund-raising was beyond our means at such short-notice but we were delighted that when we told Life Leisure Stockport about it they came to our aid with a community funding award for the extra money we needed. The extra funding is a fantastic boost to the project as it means the lower section of the skatepark will be fully integrated with the new extended area and it will alleviate potentially difficult maintenance problems that were likely to arise in the future.

We would like to thank Life Leisure for stepping in at such short notice and recognising the project's importance to the local community. We're also pleased to report that this extra work is now under-way.

£1,185 donated by Marple and Goyt Valley Rotary Club

As mentioned below, Marple and Goyt Valley Rotary Club decided to fold at the end of 2016. On Tuesday 20 December some of our volunteers dined with club members at the Royal Hotel in Hayfield for their last ever meeting. We were delighted to learn that the club had initially intended to present the project with a very generous cheque for £1,000 but when they realised this would leave us only £185 short of the £100,000 target they gave us a separate cheque for this amount too.

The project has received brilliant support from Marple and Goyt Valley Rotary over the last four years in return for the help we gave the club with their Christmas Collections in the Co-Op / Asda. We're sad that they have folded but thank them for the wonderful help that they have given to Friends of the Park and Marple Skatepark Project!

£1,875 collected in Marple Asda over Christmas

In previous years we have helped Marple and Goyt Valley Rotary Club with their Christmas collection in the Co-Op and then Asda. In 2016 the Marple and GV Rotarians decide to fold the club due to low membership and suggested that Friends of the Park take over the collections completely. We did this and raised an amazing £1,875 over three days in the store during December with our Guess the Sweets Competition, Christmas Hamper Raffle and donations. Asda's customers were extremely generous and supportive and we thank them and Asda's staff for making us so welcome!

£464 Donated by local author K. C. Dowling

Following the launch of his new book "A Man of Insignificance" in November 2014 local author K.C. Dowling chose to support Friends of Marple Memorial Park by offering to donate a share of the proceeds from its sale. On 20 May 2015 we were very pleased to receive a cheque for £240, representing a percentage of the first edition sales that have now ended. Following our funding set-back we allocated this donation to the Skatepark Project. Read more about A Man of Insignificance....

In 2016 K.C. Dowling donated a further £32 from Man of Insignificance sales and a fantastic £192 from sales of his wonderful Red Hat Guide to Manchester City Centre.

£1,516 so far from "Grow Your Tenner" 2016

In October 2016 we launched our second "Grow Your Tenner" Crowd Funding campaign. Grow Your Tenner is a a fantastic opportunity provided by Local Giving, where one-off or monthly donations of £10 are matched for three months.  With our £ for £ match-funding agreement with Stockport Council, who are matching all money raised for the Skatepark Project up to £50,000, which means that donations are actually quadrupled! So far £1,516 has been received via the scheme with more regular donations to come in over the next few months.

£100 from Fashion Sale and Tombola by ISWOK Boutique

In early November local fashion business ISWOK Boutique donated 5% of the proceeds from their Flash Sale at Marple Cricket Club and Marple Hall Year 8 students Nathan Price, Ruby Price and Grace Young ran a tombola supported by local businesses at the event too, raising a grand total of £100. It's local people doing things like this off their own back that helps to show what a popular cause our project is for the Marple community.

£400 from MP William Wragg's Charity of the Month scheme

Friends of the Park were nominated to feature in local MP William Wragg's Charity of the Month Competition for October, where local people vote for their favourite causes to receive a donation from William. We were delighted to win the public vote and receive a cheque for £400, which has been allocated towards the Skatepark Project.

£250 from Marple Tuesday Bridge Group

In January 2016 we received an unexpected boost to our funds from Marple Tuesday Bridge Group, whose members had a collection to support our efforts and raised a brilliant £105. In October 2016 we received a second donation of £50 from the group and in January 2017 a third of £95. These were equally unexpected and gratefully received. Thank you folks!

£856 raised at Marple Skatepark Art Auction

More than 60 lots of painting and photographs donated by local artists and photographers were auctioned by a professional comedian at Marple Conservative Club on Friday 14 October, raising a total of £856 for the Project.

The Society of Marple Artists helped to organise the event and many members donated works, as did several artists from the Vernon Mill too. Lots also feature many independent art and photography contributions, including some brilliant framed photos taken at the existing skatepark by Marple Hall School students during an iPhone photography course earlier this year. Local author Chris Simms also donated copies of his crime thriller books for the sale.

Thank you to all the artists, photographers and author who donated their works free of charge. Thank you to comedian Graham Heywood, our auctioneer who made it a most entertaining evening and also gave his time free of charge. Thank you to the volunteers who acted as runners and a special thank you to Steve Abbott and Joyce Reed, who have worked tirelessly to take the event from idea to reality. Thank you to Phil Jarvis and Marple Conservative Club for providing a great venue for the event free of charge. Thank you to Marple Co-Op for providing a fabulous hamper for the raffle. Thank you to Robin Sunflower for providing musical entertainment and the other musicians and singers who came to support him too. And finally, a big thank you to the people who came along and supported this event with their cash!

£240 donation from Marple Soup

On 22 September Skatepark Project Team member Jay pitched for Marple Skatepark Development Project in Marple Soup's first Community Crowd Funding event at All Saints' Church. We're delighted to report that he secured a fabulous donation of £240.50 by winning the public vote. Even more importantly, it confirms the wonderful community support there is in Marple for the project!

£615 Marple Food and Drink Day 2016

Friends of Marple Memorial Park attended the 10th Marple Food and Drink Festival on Saturday 17 September with our Tombola, Splat the Rat and Wheel of Fortune games and had a another great day. A brilliant total of £565 was raised on the day for the skatepark project and we received a further £50 donation from a gentleman we'd been chatting to at the event soon after. As always we had fantastic support from the Marple Business Community, with the Marple Business Forum allowing us to have our stall free of charge, and local shops and businesses donating a fantastic array of prizes.

£180 raised from Samuel Oldknow Bar Photo Exhibition

The Samuel Oldknow Bar on Market Street displaying works for sale by local photographers since the exhibition was launched on 8 July 2016 with a wine and cheese evening supported by Marple Co-Op and All Things Nice. Sales raised a total of £80 for the project and The Samuel Oldknow also donated £100.

£50 from Asda Chosen by You, Given by Us Scheme

We've received a runner's up prize of £50 from our second Chosen by You, Given by Us vote at the Marple Asda store.

£50 from Romiley and Marple Lions

We've received a top-up donation from Romiley and Marple Lions, taking their total contribution to a fantastic £550.

£150 from Marple Carnival Committee

Friends of the Park were delighted to receive a donation of £150 from the money raised by Marple Carnival Committee at the 2016 Carnival.

£2,265 from "Grow Your Tenner" 2015

We had a really good response from local people when we appealed for support via Local Giving's Grow Your Tenner Scheme in October 2015. This scheme allowed people to make one-off or 3 monthly donations of £10 that would be matched by local giving while funds lasted. This was a fantastic opportunity to quadruple donations because after being matched by Local Giving it would then be doubled by our match-funding agreement with the council. So a £10 donation could become £40+ with Gift Aid!

£395 of one-off donations were made during the month of October with £190 of match-funding and approximately £80 of Gift Aid. After fees this was around £636. Also 13 Direct Debits were set-up for £10 each x 3 months. All of these were matched and 12 of them with Gift Aid. The combined total from the scheme was around £1,470 but many of the direct debit donors generously allowed payments to continue and a total of £2,265 has been received.

£600 donated by Marple Hall School: Summer 2016

Marple Hall School has been involved in the Skatepark Project right from the very early days, starting with their user survey conducted during enrichment week way back in July 2011.

Since then the school has continued to support us regularly and was a huge help during the consultation process, facilitating meetings with users and allowing us bring the designers into the school to speak to students. They also brought students to consult with potential contractors at the park and supported us with bag-packing and encouraging pupils to raise funds in other ways too. Now the school has shown even more commitment to the project by donating £600 of the money raised by students and staff for good causes in 2016.

We're delighted to have such fabulous support from our local secondary school and send our thanks to Head Teacher Mr Barker, his staff and all the students who have been involved along the way!

£100 donation from the Charles Ingham Bandroom

Marple Bands made a donation of £100 to friends of the Park for helping them sort out the bandroom garden in June and July 2016, which was allocated to the skatepark project.

£50 raised by Marple Athletic JFC

The club raised the money by selling Marple Athletic JFC Beanie Hats with £1 from each sale going to the project. we think this was a brilliant idea and an excellent contribution to our community raised funds - thank you!

£463 raised at Marple Carnival and Skatepark Jam

At Marple Carnival 2016 we held a Skatepark Marathon Jam and also had a stall selling plants and playing Splat the Rat. We launched a localgiving fund-raising page to promote the Skatepark Jam and this attracted on-line donations totalling £85 with £25 of #GiveMe5 match-funding and £18.75 of Gift Aid. After deduction of £8.56 localgiving fees we were left with a balance of £120 to add to the £343 raised on the day, giving a grand total of £463.

£394 raised during our #GiveMe5 Appeal

#GiveMe5 was an initiative where on Thursday 16th June 2016 Localgiving matched 1000 x £5 donations through their web site to mark this year’s Small Charity Week. We set up an Appeal page and promoted this via web sites and social media leading up to the day. We received £340 worth of donations via the Appeal page, plus £30 of #GiveMe5 match-funding and £55 of Gift-Aid. After deduction of £31.31 localgiving fees this left us will the brilliant sum of £394 towards the project funds. Note - some #GiveMe5 match-funding was also received via the Skate Jam page detailed above, so the total match-funding was £55 altogether.

£1,000 Stockport Homes Grant Award in 2016!

We are delighted to announce that the Skatepark Project has been awarded a fantastic third £1,000 Stockport Homes Community Fund Grant in 2016 to add to the ones received in 2013 and 2015. With the three £1,000 grants and money raised by their staff at the Marple 10k Trail Run the organisation has made a fantastic contribution of £3,274 to the project so far. So we'd like to say a very big thank you to Stockport Homes for their consistently brilliant support and for having the confidence in us to stick with our campaign! Apart from the money we've raised at multiple local events and the council's match-funding, Stockport Homes is now the biggest single contributor to the project by some distance.

£941 raised by Julian Wadden Family Treasure Hunt 2016

The Family Treasure Hunt on 28 May 2016 was a free event but there was a collection bucket for donations to Friends of Marple Memorial Park, a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses and the event programme was also sponsored by local businesses too. The hunt raised a grand total of £941 for the park and we would like to say a huge thank you to Julian Wadden Estate Agents for organising this second event with us and the following local businesses for their fantastic support.

Programme Sponsors:

£100 Sponsor: Julian Wadden. £50 Sponsor: The Rolling Pin. £30 Sponsors: All Things Nice!, Brabyns Preparatory School, Helen Winterson, Jones Law Partnership, Magikats Tuition (Romiley), Marple Co-Op, Marple Drama, Marple Health, Marple Local History Society, Paul David Jewellery, Rhodes and Partners, Rope Race Climbing Centre, Stone Spar (Rose Hill), The Hatters Arms, The Ring o' Bells Public House, The Springfield Hotel.

Raffle Prize Donors:

Harmony Decor, Lower Dale Equestrian Centre, Magikats Tuition (Romiley), Nitrotek Ltd, No. 12, Pink Parrot, Regent Cinema, Rope Race Climbing Centre, Stars N Stripes, The Bookshop (Marple) Ltd, The Ring o' Bells Public House, Yvonne Gillon.

Thank you to everyone for supporting your local community park!

£500 from Rotary Club of Stockport £10K Fund

We spotted in March that the Rotary Club of Stockport were inviting applications to their 10K Fund and we put together a bid for a contribution towards the skatepark project. In May we were pleased to learn that this had been successful and the Rotary Club had decided to support us with a contribution of £500. Of course that's actually worth £1,000 against the project total thanks to the council's match-funding.

£1,688 Raised at Ring o' Bells Quiz Nights

The Ring o' Bells had given fantastic support to Friends of Marple Memorial Park for many years. They held a Quiz night every Thursday evening that raised money for all kinds of local charities and good causes and the park was often selected as beneficiary.

The most recent quiz night held for us raised another £56, bringing the money raised by the pub for the Skatepark to a superb £1,688. So a very BIG thank you to former landlords Mark and Anita and also Mike Coleman at the pub for their fantastic support.

£64 donation from Trident Electronics

When Trident Electronics were approached to renew their advertising banner on The Marple Website they kindly offered to round the normal £36 annual payment up to £100 in order to support the community work of the web site, so the balance of £64 has been paid direct to the Skatepark Project.

Trident Electronics are local experts in Security Alarm Systems, Fire Alarms, CCTV and Access Controls.

£187 raised at Hawk Green Maypole Event

Friends of the Park attended this excellent event on the green at Hawk Green on Sunday 15 May 2016 and raised another £187 for the skatepark with sales of plants, books

and our Splat the Rat, which even MP William Wragg had a brave attempt at (but failed!)

£1,120 raised by Marple Skatefest II

Marple Skatepark Fest II at Hawk Green Cricket Club on Saturday 14 May 2016 was a total sell-out and raised a brilliant £1,120 for the project. The acts organised for us by Dave Ingham from Lazlo Baby featured Charlie Ingham, Georgia Pip, Jenny Clark, Josey Marina, The Fuse and the Small Blonde and The Destitutes.

Hawk Green CC again provided the venue free of charge, All Things Nice served up a wonderful Chilli with all proceeds going to the project and the Marple Co-Op, Recon Cycles and Zuzu's Petals proved some great raffle prizes, plus many more donated by volunteers.

The breakdown of income was: Ticket sales plus donations £655, Food £260 and £205 on the raffle.

£100 donation from Nitrotek Ltd

Nitrotek Ltd, based in Marple's Goyt Mill at Hawk Green, is the #1 supplier of RC Models in the UK, selling the Best Radio Controlled Helicopters, RC Planes, RC Cars and Tanks. Here's what owner Omar had to say about becoming a local business supporter of Marple Skatepark Project:

We are happy to support the Skate Park campaign. It's a great project for the local community to help get the kids outdoors having fun and getting some fresh air. I used to love skateboarding when I was young and my weekends would be spent with my friends outside enjoying the hobby. Nowadays it's more difficult to encourage children to put the games console away and get outside so projects like this can really help by giving them something fun and sociable to do." Omar: www.nitrotek.co.uk

£2,500 donated by The Marple Website

The Marple Website - "The First and Best Community web site for Marple in Cheshire" is delighted to make another donation of £1,000 to the Skatepark fund from the banner advertising income on The Marple Website, the Marple Community Forum and the Virtual History Tour of Marple for 2015-16. This has been possible due to the excellent support of the local businesses who pay for low cost advertising on these sites. Follow this link to see who they are.

The purpose of the banner adverts on the sites is to generate income to cover running costs. This has been quite successful in recent years and has allowed the surplus income to be donated to local causes. In 2011 £1,000 was donated to Friends of Marple Memorial Park for their Diamond Jubilee Project. In 2012 The Marple Website became the main sponsor of the Marple Christmas Cracker with a donation of £1,000 to Marple Business Forum. £1,000 was donated to the Skate Park Project in 2014 and in 2013 a £500 donation was matched by Forever Manchester, effectively doubling our our money.

The 2015-16 donation takes the web site's contribution towards the Skatepark Community Match Funding to a total of £2,500.

Take a look here if you would like to support The Marple Website and local causes while promoting your business at very low cost!

£587 from Easter Hamper Raffle and Donations in Marple Asda

Thanks to the new manager at Asda and our brilliant volunteers we were able to repeat earlier successes of collecting in Asda on Easter Saturday 2016. Customers were extremely generous and supportive of the project and we raised an incredible £587 by raffling a giant Easter Egg and Bunny hamper plus donations into our collection buckets.

£100 from Nationwide BS Community Count

Towards the end of 2015 we were nominated to feature in the Nationwide Community Count, a scheme where the society's customers vote with tokens for their favourite out of 3 different causes that they would like to see win an award. We had a huge share of the votes in the Marple Branch but this wasn't enough to win the overall prize of £600. Despite this we received a runners prize of £100 for making the final selection, which was a most welcome addition to our project funds.

£2,500 of Flexibility Funding from Marple Area Committee

Way back in April 2013 Marple Area Committee got our fundraising campaign off to a great start with the award of a £1,000 grant from their Flexibility Fund budget. Since then the committee and all our local councillors have been hugely supportive of the project. In March 2016 we made a second application to Area Committee and asked them for more help as we strive to reach our target before our planning approval expires. We were delighted when the committee praised our efforts and generously awarded a second grant of £1,500 to push us a big step closer to achieving our aims. Of course, as with all contributions, this money is worth double to the project thanks to our match-funding agreement with the council.

£200 from Marple ASDA's Chosen by You, Given by Us scheme

We were nominated to take part in Asda's "Chosen by You, Given by Us" scheme that was run over the 2015 Christmas period in the Marple store. Customers put green tokens in the box of their favourite local cause and we were delighted to win the vote and receive an award of £200 towards the project funding in January 2016.

£2,500 released by Forever Manchester / CDL Fund

In May 2014 we made a grant application to the CDL Fund via Forever Manchester. The CDL Fund helps local community and voluntary groups that contribute positively to the quality of life of people in Stockport. The fund is open to groups supporting children and young people, older people, the environment, health and stronger communities. In July 2014 we were delighted to learn that we have been awarded a grant of £2,500 towards our community match funding. However, this money was held by Forever Manchester and was only be released once we had raised the balance that we needed to complete the project. The award also had a deadline of 12 months and was due to expire in May 2015.

In May 2015 Forever Manchester and the CDL Fund extended the award until June 2015, pending the outcome of our large grant application to Lafarge-Tarmac. On learning that this was unsuccessful they kindly extended the deadline even further to December 2015 but as we felt that we would not be able to reach our target of £100,000 by then we stopped including the £2,500 in our running totals in August 2015.

At the end of November 2015 we wrote to FM/CDL to explain what great progress we had been making but that we still had a long way to go before we would meet our target. We explained our new £1 for £1 match-funding agreement with the council, meaning that their £2,500 would now be worth £5,000 to the project, and appealed for them to extend the deadline again.

In January 2016 we were overwhelmed to learn that Forever Manchester / CDL Fund had agreed to release the money to us on the understanding that would commit to return it if we are not successful in reaching the balance of monies needed for the project. Of course we were delighted to do that. This was a welcome boost for the project as we could start including the money in our totals again and it got 2016 off to a fantastic start by bringing the total we still needed to raise below £19,000!

£419 Raised by the Hatters Arm and All Things Nice

After a long awaited post-Christmas catch-up with Lewis we are delighted to report that we have another £419 to add to our Community Fundraising total for the Skatepark Project.

This is thanks to £155 raised at the Hatters Arms Halloween Night, £168 raised at All Things Nice by Rick for Movember and another £95 from the Movember bucket at the Hatters too. So a VERY BIG thank you to All Things Nice and the Hatters. Great community effort!

£901 Collected with Marple & GV Rotary Club (2015)

During December 2015 Friends of the Park volunteers helped the Rotary Club of Marple and Goyt Valley with their Christmas collections at the Marple Co-Op for the third year running. Collections were also made by Rotary members at New Mills Co-Op and Whaley Bridge Tesco and a total of more than £2,196 was raised altogether.

Following the drop-out of another local group Friends of the Park rallied round to fill the vacant slots at Marple Asda. Thanks to tremendous help from Romiley and Marple Lions President John Perkins and several other volunteers gathered by Social Media, including Local Councillor Susan Ingham and 2016 Marple North candidate John Bates, we managed to fill them all.

The Rotary Club will generously share the proceeds with Friends of the Park, Hawk Green Cricket Club and Hayfield Jnr Football Club in proportion with the help each group gave and we were delighted to learn recently that our share for the Skatepark Project will total £901, so a very big thank you to all our Santa and Elf volunteers!

£50  Donation from Cllr Kenny Blair in lieu of Christmas Cards

Local Councillor Kenny Blair has donated £50 to the project via Local Giving instead of buying Christmas cards in 2015. With Gift Aid this comes to £58.77 and of course is worth double thanks to our £1 for £1 match-funding agreement.

We must add that we've also had fantastic support from many of Marple's Local Councillors past and present. Several have made personal donations via Local Giving "Grow Your Tenner" and other individual private donations. Collectively, as Marple Area Committee, our councillors are also hugely supportive of the project, so we must thank them all!

£458 Giant Hamper Raffle and Guess the Sweets competition in Marple Asda

We were all geared up to take part in the Marple Christmas Cracker and after it was cancelled due to high winds were left with a big jar of sweets and a large Christmas Hamper that we didn't know what to do with.

Thanks to Asda Marple's Community Life Champion we were able to run our Guess the Sweets competition and raffle the hamper in the store on Saturday 19th December. Thanks to the generosity of Marple shoppers we raised an excellent £458 that really made up for having to miss Marple's Christmas Cracker in 2015!

We were also in Asda during December collecting funds with Marple and Goyt Valley Rotary Club. We don't know the amount of funds raised for the skatepark yet but will update totals when we learn the results of the collection.

£983 from Marple Skatepark Fest

This fantastic event at Hawk Green Cricket Club in November was organised for us by local band Lazlo Baby. Local Deli All Things Nice also got involved and provide some great Street Food with all proceeds donated to the project. Acts included Charlie Ingham, Jenny Clark, Lazlo Baby and headline act Mama Goose. Hawk Green Cricket Club provide the venue free of charge, Marple Asda, Recon Cycles and Friends of the Park provided raffle prizes and a great night was had by all.

The evening raised a total of £1,066, which was reduced to £983 after expenses (£60 travel for Mama Goose and £23 for a crate of beer for the bands.)  The food raised £140, the raffle £153 and ticket sales + Steve Abbott's silhouettes and sales of Mama Goose CDs contributed the balance of £773.

£42.50 St Mary's RC Primary School

We were delighted to receive a donation of £42.50 raised by the pupils in Year 3 at St. Mary's RC Primary School in Marple Bridge. We have also received small donations of £20 from Friends of Cromwell Avenue Park, who borrowed our Splat the Rat for an event in their park, £25 from Arthur Procter for the sale of a canvas print during the Art for the Skatepark exhibition in September and £30 from The Marple Website for the sale of a vintage canvas print at the same event.

£250 Marple Locks Heritage Society

Marple Locks Heritage Society has recently folded. They had £500 worth of funds remaining and have donated £250 each to Friends of the Park and New Horizons. Friends of the Park have allocated their share to the skatepark project because it will be worth double with our match-funding agreement with Stockport Council.

£660 Marple Food and Drink Day 2015

Friends of Marple Memorial Park attended the 9th Marple Food and Drink Festival on Saturday 19 September with our tombola and had a another great day. The tombola stall raised almost £500 and with Splat the Rat, plant sales and donations bringing in another £160, a brilliant total of £660 was raised for the skatepark project.

Due to our match-funding agreement with Stockport Council this is actually worth £1,320 against our £100,000 target!

As always we had fantastic support from the Marple Business Community, with the Marple Business Forum donating our stall free of charge, and local shops and businesses donating a fantastic array of prizes. We'll update the page further when we get some photos from Arthur and also update our tombola page with details of all the businesses who helped us too.

Thank you Marple Business Forum and local businesses for your support!

£400 Lewis Abbott Beard-Off

Lewis has now collected in the sponsorship money for his Beard-Off and handed over £260 cash to add to the £140 paid on-line, making a fantastic total of £400.

Lewis is shown in the photo here at Marple Locks Festival having his beard removed by his sister Roz. Well done Lewis and thank you to everyone who helped him to raise a great contribution to the project that will be matched by Stockport Council from Commuted Sums.

£1,000 Stockport Homes Grant Award in 2015!

We are delighted to announce that the Skatepark Project has been awarded a second £1,000 Stockport Homes Community Fund Grant in 2015 to add to the one received in 2013. Once again, the award of this money was dependent on public voting and we are very grateful for all the support we received from people who voted on-line and also at the Community Count Event in August 2015.

With the two £1,000 grants and money raised by their staff at the Marple 10k Trail Run the organisation has made a fantastic contribution of £2,274 to the project so far and we'd like to say a very big thank you to Stockport Homes!

£327 Raised at Marple Carnival and Marple Locks Festival

Our stall at Marple Carnival in June 2015 and at Marple Locks Festival in July did well and we raised £327 at the two events. This doesn't include Lewis Abbott's Beard-off sponsorship, which is still coming in, or his dad Steve's silhouette money. We'll update the funding blog with a new entry when we have full details of what the pair raised with their efforts. (The money donated on-line via local giving for the Beard-off is approx £140 and this is included in overall totals.)

£402 raised by Treasure Hunt organised by Julian Wadden

The Family Treasure Hunt on 30 May 2015 was a free event but there was a collection bucket for donations to Friends of Marple Memorial Park, a raffle with prizes donated by local businesses and the event programme was also sponsored by local businesses too. The event raised a grand total of £402 for the park and we would like to say a huge thank you to Julian Wadden Estate Agents for organising this event with us and the following local businesses for their fantastic support:

Programme Sponsors: Magpie Cottages, Stationery Supplies, Marple Drama, Helen Winterson, Marple Local History Society, Kathy’s Caterpillars, Rhodes & Partners.

Raffle Prize Donors: Crafty Ladies, Pink Parrot, All Things Nice, The Antique Rose, Kay Dees Hair & Beauty, Harmony Decor, Gosling Toymaster, Costa Coffee, The Linen Room, Stationery Supplies, The Rolling Pin, Marple PO.

Thank you to everyone for supporting your local community park!

£53 Raised by Marple Hall School Pupils' Sponsored Silence

At the end of last term Marple Hall School pupils and skatepark users Taz and Brendan completed a sponsored silence at the school. They managed to remain silent for the entire school day, which was a huge challenge. In April we received a total of £53 of sponsorship from the school and we'd like to give a big thank you to Taz and Brendon for this fantastic effort. Both Taz (far right) and Brendon (second from left) can be seen in the photo below of Marple Hall School pupils who took part in one of our consultation days during the tender period.

£600 Raised by Marple & District WI at Marple Christmas Cracker 2014

Marple and District Women’s Institute decided to support the Skatepark Project with their craft stall at Marple Christmas Cracker 2014.

With an amazing selection of home-made preserves, cakes, biscuits, soft toys, handbags, t-towels and knitwear MAD WI raised a fantastic total of £600 towards our community match-funding and also exhibited a display of the preferred skatepark designs too.

£793 Collected with Marple & GV Rotary Club (2014)

During December 2014 Friends of the Park volunteers helped the Rotary Club of Marple and Goyt Valley with their Christmas collections at the Marple Co-Op for the second year running. Collections were also made by Rotary members at New Mills Co-Op and Whaley Bridge Tesco and a total of more than £2,269 was raised altogether.

The Rotary Club generously shared the proceeds with Friends of the Park, Marple Cricket Club and High Lane Football Club in proportion with the help each group gave.

We were delighted to be presented with a cheque for £793 representing our share at a Rotary evening on 27 January. Skatepark Project Team member Mark Whittaker is shown receiving the cheque from Club President Ian Priestley.

We were also very pleased to learn that we'd helped raise such a large amount and that the Rotary Club still made just as much as they normally do after giving us our share because they support a number of local, national and international charities, ranging from support for local community projects to the worldwide campaign to eliminate polio.

The Rotary Club of Marple and Goyt Valley meets most Tuesday evenings at the Royal Hotel in Hayfield and visitors are welcome.

£223 raised by Diane Jackson

Local lady, retired businesswoman and long-time Friends of Marple Memorial Park supporter Di Jackson celebrated a milestone birthday in January this year.

We were delighted to discover that Di (seen on the left with Santa and assistant during the Rotary Co-Op collections) requested donations to the Skatepark Project in lieu of birthday presents and amazed to receive over £220 of donations from her generous family and friends.

There is still a little more to come in from donations made though local giving and we'll update this entry when that money is received.

What else can we say but Happy Birthday and thank you Di Jackson!

£150 from High Lane Garage (www.highlanegarage.co.uk)

HLG counts Marple motorists as a high percentage of its client base. Known for handling quality pre-owned cars, especially Mazdas, Suzukis, Hondas and Toyotas, HLG is on the main A6 in High Lane, opposite the Red Lion Restaurant / Pub. High Lane Garage donated £100 early in 2014 and followed this up with another £50 at Christmas 2014.

Our thanks go to Peter Murray, owner of High Lane Garage and Murson Cars for his generous support of the Skatepark Project.

£864 Raised at Marple's Food and Drink Festival 2014

The Friends of Marple Memorial Park were at this year's Food and Drink Day on Market Street with our fund raising Tombola, "Guess the Sweets" Competition and brand new "Splat the Rat" machine. The fantastic prizes for our Tombola were all donated by local shops and businesses and with the cost of the stall and gazebo also being waived by Marple Festival Committee and Stockport Council respectively, it meant that all proceeds of the day could go toward our match funding.

It was another great day with a really positive response to our stall and displays about the skatepark and our other project in the park. The Tombola broke all previous records, raising £674, the "Guess the Sweets" made £67 and the "Splat the Rat" plus other donations came to £123 - a grand total of £864 - the best we've ever done again!

£500 donated by Romiley and Marple Lions

Romiley and Marple Lions do great fund-raising work in the local community, including the fantastic Santa Dash at Christmas and Santa's Grotto at the Marple Christmas Cracker. They support a mix of international, national and local causes and we were delighted when they got in touch to say that they would like to support the project after seeing our posters in the park.

In April 2014 the Lions donated a sum of £250 and Jason from Recon Cycles is shown collecting our cheque from them in the photo below. Since then the Lions have been following our progress closely and have regularly asked how much we still need to reach our target. In September 2014 they helped us break through our initial target of £20,000 with the donation of a cheque for a further £250, making their total contribution up to £500. Thank you Romiley and Marple Lions!

£380 Raised by Fun Charity Bike Ride

A Charity Fun Bike Ride was organised for Sunday 24 August by Recon Cycle Repairs, The Marple Tavern and Woodstock Pizza.

The event comprised a family bike ride along the Middlewood Way followed by a Fun Day afterwards at The Marple Tavern that included free burgers for participants, bouncy castle, side-shows and entertainment from local band Blank Cheque. It was supported by Moss Bank Homes and Stockport Homes and also raised funds for charities Tik Toc and the Stuart Fraser-Thomson Foundation. The skatepark share of funds amounted to an excellent £380, which means that we're now very close to our target.

A very BIG thank you to Jason at Recon Cycle Repairs, Karen, Lisa and Simeone at The Marple Tavern and Woodstock Pizza and also Guy, a regular at the Tavern, for organising this brilliant event.

There are more of Arthur Procter's images from the Day on our Facebook Page.

£235 Donated by Recon-Cycle Repairs and Sales (Marple)

A new Cycle Repair and Sales business has been started up in Marple by Jason Saenz, who is helping to support the Marple Skatepark Project by donating a share of his profits to the Skate Park Match-Funding.

So far Jason has donated a total of £235 and he has also become a valued member of our Skatepark Project Team, supporting us at local events and coming to our meetings with some great ideas.

So if you need a new or reconditioned bicycle, or need help with bike repairs and would like to help the Skate Park too, please use Jason's services. Here are some testimonials on The Marple Website.

£155 raised at Marple Carnival 2014

This year we attended Marple Carnival mainly with the aim of consulting with users on the tendered skatepark designs, which went very well. We also had a Guess the Sweets Competition to raise funds and had additional help from local artist Steve Abbott (Lewis's dad) who donated the proceeds of all the silhouette portraits he cut on the day, and from Jason of Recon Cycle Repairs, who raffled two BMX bikes, one for a girl and one for a boy. Between all this plus donations from the public we raised a total of £155.

£10 Donated by Brian Lever

Local man Brian Lever donated £10 following a bit of fun on The Marple Website Community Forum. Thank you Brian!

£30 donated by Inkbox of Marple

Inkbox of Marple, the Print Cartridge, Printers and Office Supplies shop on Market Street, has supported the project with a collection box for customers to put change in between 1st March and 31st May this year. The collection raised £14.30 and Inkbox themselves have rounded that up to £15 and then matched it, giving us a total donation of £30. Thank you Inkbox - the support of a local business like yours is much appreciated!

£100 donated by Marple Business Forum

Marple Business Forum represents the retailers and businesses of Marple. Their aim is to promote the town and act as a discussion forum for local businesses at their regular meetings. They also do some great work in the community including organisation and participation in local events such as Marple Carnival, Marple Locks Festival, the Food and Drink Festival and the Marple Christmas Cracker. The forum has often supported Friends of Marple Memorial Park with their projects over the last 10 years and in May 2014 have once again shown fantastic support by donating £100 towards the Skatepark match funding.

£263 raised by "Art from the Parks" Exhibition

Local artist Sarah Morley held an exhibition entitled "Art from the Parks" between 15 and 29 March at Marple Library in support of the Skatepark Project and managed to raise a brilliant total of £263 for our cause. This included £67 collected in donations and a contribution of £196 from the proceeds of the artwork sold. Here's why Sarah chose to support the project:

I feel strongly that we in Stockport have a great diversity of wonderful parks and it is very important to get as many people as possible to enjoy them. Last year our local council had a community consultation on how they could cut spending on the parks. With this also in mind I felt that it was important to have an exhibition of paintings from different Stockport parks to highlight how fantastic our parks are and increase awareness and support for our parks. With the help of the Friends of Marple Memorial Park I was able to team up my exhibition with supporting the Skatepark fund.

As a mother of teenagers myself I also think it is particularly important to encourage teenagers and older children to continue to enjoy their parks when they have outgrown the playgrounds. Time outside is very important to their health and development. So for all of those reasons I am supporting the further development of the Skatepark by the Friends of the Marple Memorial Park. I hope they are able to reach their target soon and attract the match funding they will require.

Thank you very much to Sarah. Follow this link to see more from the "Art from the Parks" exhibition.

£100 donation from "Marple Health" Shop

John and Jean Dickson, who run Marple Health Shop on Stockport Road, got in touch with us recently after receiving a letter we sent via Marple Business Forum seeking support from their members. After a chat with John about the project we received a generous donation of £100 and a fantastic letter of support. Here's what John and Jean, shown below, had to say:

"We are enthusiastic to be included in the excitement around the expansion and refurbishment of The Skate Park in Marple’s Memorial Park.

We are keen to encourage the enjoyment of the open spaces that surround us and the community/cooperation that we think this facility engenders.

The skateboarding venue has been a popular focus for a wide variety of users ever since opening thirteen years ago, it has become an established recreation centre and with this planned upgrading we are sure that it’s appeal will widen.

We will not be using the facility, although we do have pensioners’ concessions to draw on if we have a change of mind, but do know many who’s children and grandchildren are regular visitors. Hence we are happy to make a donation of £100.00 towards your campaign."

Thank you to John and Jean at Marple Health Shop!

£1,700 grant from the Co-Operative Community Fund

We were delighted to learn in March 2014 that our application last year to the Co-Operative Members Community Fund for a grant towards our match funding has been successful. We're very grateful to our next-door neighbour the Marple Co-Op for supporting our application and the Stockport and Macclesfield Regional Committee for approving it.

£200 donated by Marple Tavern and Woodstock Pizza

Following on from their support of our Skatepark Event with their Fun Day during Marple Carnival last year The Marple Tavern and Woodstock Pizza have now boosted their contribution to the Skatepark Project with a donation of £200 raised jointly by The Marple Tavern on Cross Lane, Marple, and Woodstock Pizza, the mobile Clay Oven Pizza business that is run out of the pub.

In addition, The Marple Tavern and Woodstock Pizza are also working together with Jason Saenz of Recon-Cycles to take advantage of the pub's close proximity to the Middlewood Way by putting on a Cycle Event to support the project in the summer of 2014.

A very BIG thank you to The Marple Tavern and Woodstock Pizza for their ongoing support of the Marple Skatepark Development Project!

£100 donated by M.E.S.S.

In March 2014, following work done relating to their web site by Marple Website Design and Hosting, Marple - Mellor - Marple Bridge Energy Saving Strategy agreed to make a donation of £100 to Friends of Marple Memorial Park. The Friends have chosen to allocate this contribution from M.E.S.S. to the Skatepark Project match-funding.

M.E.S.S. has also recently supported Friends of the Park by providing and helping to plant a range of "Wild Harvest" trees in the park as part of their "Incredible Edible Marple" campaign.

£50 donated by Marple Civic Society

Marple Civic Society has been a long-term supporter of the Skatepark Project and one of their members plays a key role on our project team. We recently received a letter of support from the Society and they have now raided their limited coffers to contribute £50 towards the match-funding that we need. They say:

"Marple Civic Society's aim is the make Marple a better place to live, work and visit. An important aspect of that aim is to provide facilities for young people. We believe that the skatepark project fulfills that aim and deserves our support and that of Marple residents."

Thank you Marple Civic Society!

£50 donated by William Wragg

In February 2014 Prospective Conservative MP for Hazel Grove William Wragg has provided a letter of support for the Marple Skatepark Project along with a donation of £50 towards our match-funding. William says: "It gives me great pleasure in sending you a letter of support for your endeavours for the Marple Skatepark Development Project. Not only will the project provide welcome additional provision for young people in Marple to enjoy, but it is also bringing the community together."

Thank you to William, who also recently joined Friends of the Park on one of our task days.

£100 from Marple Mini / Youth Rugby

In February 2014 the Mini and Youth section of Marple Rugby Club donated £100 towards the refurbishment of the Skatepark Facility in Marple Memorial Park. Their letter of support says:

"Marple RUFC Mini and Junior section, with over 250 members ranging from ages 4 – 18 years, fully supports the upgrade to Marple Skate Park and other initiatives for the children of Marple.

Marple has the potential to unlock the hidden talents of their children, be it by way of entertainment, literature or sporting activities that everyone should have the opportunity to try within their community. The very best of luck with your fundraising activities."

Thank you Marple Mini / Youth Rugby!

£100 from The Brass Bands of Marple

In February 2014 The Brass Bands of Marple, who are currently putting the finishing touches their new home in the former Park Keeper's cottage in the park, have shown their support for our project by donating £100 towards the Skatepark Extension. They say "we believe the park should be used by the whole community and the skatepark is a valuable resource for the youth of Marple".

The Brass Bands of Marple, made up of Marple Band and Hawk Green Band, are currently renovating and extending the old Park Keeper's cottage in Memorial Park so that it can be brought into community use as The Charles Ingham Bandroom. When complete it will provide a music facility for local people aged 8 to 80!

£117.50 donated by Sue Emery

Secretary of The Brass Bands of Marple Charles Ingham Bandroom Fund Sue Emery has also made a fantastic personal donation of £100 toward the skatepark funding in February 2014. Sue, who is a very regular user of Marple Memorial Park, says "I think it is fantastic that, in providing the skate park, Marple Memorial Park has a place especially for the young people of Marple and that is so well used by them". What's even better is that because Sue made the donation with Gift-Aid though our localgiving.com web page we will actually receive a total of £117.50! Thank you Sue!

£850 Collected with Marple & Goyt Valley Rotary Club (2013)

During December 2013 Friends of the Park helped the Rotary Club of Marple and Goyt Valley with their Christmas collections at the Marple Co-Op. Collections were also made by Rotary members at New Mills Co-Op and a record-breaking total of more than £2,600 was raised altogether.

The Rotary Club generously shared the proceeds with Friends of the Park in proportion with the help we gave and we were delighted to be presented with a cheque for £850 at a Rotary evening on 14 January. Skatepark Project Team member Jason Saenz is shown receiving the cheque from Club President Ian Priestley.

We were very pleased to learn that we'd helped achieve a record collection and the Rotary Club made just as much as they normally do after giving us our share because they support a number of local, national and international charities, ranging from support for local community projects to the worldwide campaign to eliminate polio.

The Rotary Club of Marple and Goyt Valley meets most Tuesday evenings at the Royal Hotel in Hayfield and visitors are welcome.

£100 from Murson Cars

This is the newly launched, web based, sister business to HLG specialising in Hyundai, Kia and Skoda. Well worth a look.

Our thanks go to Peter Murray, owner of High Lane Garage and Murson Cars for his generous support of the Skatepark Project.

£148 Raised at Marple Christmas Cracker 2013

On 7th December, 12 months on from when we first started fund-raising for the Skatepark Project, we has a stall at the Marple Christmas Cracker 2013 and ran a "guess how many sweets" competition and sold bird boxes and bird-feeders made by the David Lewis Centre Charity. We raised £148 for the Skatepark and £26 for the David Lewis Centre. We were also joined by pupils from Marple Hall School, who mingled with the crowds and conducted skatepark surveys with local people.

£1,000 FM Award from Forever Manchester

FM Awards, a new awards programme from Forever Manchester, is about hearing all the good stuff that’s happening in a neighbourhood and how a group connects with and improves the local community. The application process is quick and simple and they don't ask for statistics or how deprived or disadvantaged the beneficiaries are. They don't even want to know specific details of how the money will be spent!

This sounded right-up-our-street, so Friends of Marple Memorial Park made an application at the end of October by singing our own praises about our project successes since we were formed in 2003. We asked other local groups to help us by providing their supportive comments too and in just 24 hours we had a fantastic response that helped us to win £1,000 in the end of November awards!

We recommend that other local groups look at the FM Awards scheme too - as Forever Manchester say "Great things happen in and around Greater Manchester on a daily basis and we want to shout about it!" So give them a call.

£37 Raised by Josh and Karen Andrew at Marple 10K

Thank you to Josh & Karen Andrew who've donated £37 sponsorship for the skatepark raised by running in the Marple 10k Trail Run in September. Josh was one of the lads who helped raise £35 at the Marple Hall Review Day on 22 November and also joined us for the bag-packing at the Co-Op and Morrisons, when we raised £928, so he's making a big difference! Can you help like this too?

£500 Donated by House-on-the-Hill Software Ltd

Friends of Memorial Park and Marple Skatepark Development Project would like to thank local Marple business House-on-the-Hill Software Ltd for their generous donation of £500 towards our skatepark match-funding. Here’s what they say:

House-on-the-Hill Software, as a local business is pleased to support the community and especially to encourage young people to be active outdoors. Sadly, many people do not appreciate the skill and dedication that is required to become proficient with a skateboard.

We have 3 sons, the older two, Peter and Henry have had many hours of pleasure skateboarding with their friends in Memorial Park, so this is an opportunity for us to put something back.

House-on-the-Hill Software, first established in 1993, imparts extensive and comprehensive experience in the development, consultancy and training of the company's service desk software tool: SupportDesk.

Used within businesses of all sizes and sectors spanning over 40 countries, SupportDesk enables the provision of efficient, top-quality support, and excellent customer service.

£35 Collected by Marple Hall Pupils at "Review Day"

Skatepark Users at Marple Hall School set up a display about the project on Friday 22 November during the school's "Review Day", when parents visit the school to talk to form tutors. They collected £34.87 while bringing the Marple Skatepark Development Project to the attention of lots more local people, so well done lads!

We've also had a couple of other contributions to the fund from localgiving's Grow Your Tenner (£20) and Easyfundraising (£35).

£139 Donated by All Saints' Church, Marple

In November 2013 All Saints' Church Marple made a donation of £100 to the Marple Skatepark Project match-funding to show their support for what we are trying to achieve. In addition, the Church has donated a share of £39 from their Harvest Festival collection in October, which is fantastically generous too! We thank them for these donations, which demonstrate that they are serious about contributing positively to the local community, and also for the help and support that their Church Youth Group Leaders have given us too.

£90 Donated by a Local Family

Friends of the Park recently helped a local family arrange to have a commemorative bench placed in the park in memory of a loved one who had passed away. The family had a collection amongst friends and relatives to pay for the bench and there was a £90 surplus, which they kindly donated to our cause in November 2013.

£235 Bag Packing at Morrisons in Bredbury

Thank you to all the skatepark users who joined us at Morrisons in Bredbury on Saturday 19 October 2013. We managed to raise £234.94 for the skatepark project plus £50 for a donation to Stockport Homes towards their nominated charity Beechwood Cancer Care. This was as a thank you for arranging and supporting the bag packing events and for printing us 20 skatepark t-shirts free of charge.

Marple Cancer Charities, who we invited to join us because there are so many tills at Morrisons, also did really well and raised £205 for their important cause.

Well done to everyone involved - that's £928 raised for the skatepark over the two bag packing events, which is a fantastic effort!

£693 Bag Packing at Marple Co-Op with Marple Hall and All Saints' Schools

Thank you to all the skate park users and supporters from Marple Hall and All Saints' schools who helped us Bag-Packing at the Co-Op on Saturday 12 October 2013. The grand total collected was £692.94, which is a fantastic result, so very well done!

It was also good to see how well the skatepark users interacted with the Co-Op's friendly customers throughout the day.

£1,000 Collection of Special Award from Marple Carnival Charities Committee

Friends of Memorial Park's Marple Park Skatepark Development Project was selected from a short-list of four local causes for Marple Carnival Charities Committee Special Award back in April 2013.

We were delighted to collect a cheque for £1,000 at the Carnival Charity Distribution evening on Friday 11 October 2013.

The award tied in well with our involvement in the Carnival itself this year and our special skatepark event with Team Extreme on Carnival Day 2013 was very popular with skatepark users and Carnival goers alike.

Friends of the Park Treasurer Mark Whittaker is shown, right, receiving the cheque from Marple Carnival Rosebud India Bainbridge during the presentation evening at Marple Cricket Club.

£161 Donated by Marple in Action Community Campaign Group

Following their successful campaign to stop a supermarket being build on the Hibbert Lane College site Marple in Action decided to share their surplus funds between four local good causes. They chose to distribute the £447 of left-over funds between Friends of Memorial Park, Marple Cancer Charities Committee, Marple Civic Society and New Horizons in accordance with a public vote at Marple Food and Drink Day and on-line voting via Facebook and The Marple Website Community Forum.

Friends of the Park were pleased to receive 36% of the public vote, earning us £160.94 for the Skatepark Project. This was presented to us by Marple in Action representatives Di Jackson and Mick Mcphee in the park on Saturday 26 October 2013.

£313 Raised by Stockport Homes Staff at the Marple 10K Run

Stockport Homes has become a great supporter of the Marple Skatepark Development Project and when they learned that Marple Firefighters has agreed to donate a share of the proceeds of the 2013 Marple 10k Trail Run with us their staff decided that they would add their support to this too.

Stockport Homes employees, who regularly support local charities in their spare time, fielded 10 runners in the Marple 10k Trail Run who collected sponsorship for our match-funding.

Staff not able to run organising a tombola to raise more funds and joined Friends of Marple Memorial Park in our gazebo at the finish line.

A brilliant total of £313 was raised by the Stockport Homes team and we are very grateful for the support that they are giving to the Marple Skatepark Development Project.

£400 Donated by Marple Firefighters' 2013 Marple 10K Run

Marple Firefighters showed their support for the Marple Skate Park Project by agreeing to donate 20% of the money raised by the hugely popular Marple 10K Trail Run this year. The Firefighters have always had strong links with the local community and this is a continuation of this great tradition.

The Firefighters raised an amazing total of £2,000 from the 2013 Marple 10k Run and we received a cheque for the brilliant sum of £400 towards our Skatepark match funding on 5th November at Marple Fire Station.

We also know that the Firefighters have donated £1,100 to the Fire Fighters' Charity and £500 to the fund in memory of Firefighter Stephen Hunt, who tragically lost his life tackling a blaze in Manchester northern quarter in July 2013.

So a very BIG thank you to Marple Firefighters for supporting your local community!

For more information about the Marple 10k Trail Run and to learn about its history visit the dedicated Marple 10k web site.

£766 Raised at Marple's Fantastic Food and Drink Festival 2013

The Friends of Marple Memorial Park were at this year's Food and Drink Day on Market Street with our fund raising Tombola, "Guess the Sweets" Competition and raffle for a girl's pink Chopper Bike reconditioned and donated by Recon-Cycle Repairs and Sales. The prizes for our Tombola were all donated by local shops and businesses and the huge jar full of Gourmet Jelly Beans from the Jelly Bean Factory were donated by a local family who wanted to show their support for the project too. With the cost of the stall and gazebo also being waived by Marple Festival Committee and Stockport Council respectively, it meant that all proceeds of the day could go toward our match funding.

What a great day it was too - the response to our stall and displays about the project were incredibly positive and the Tombola raised a record £570, the "Guess the Sweets" raised £118 and the Chopper Raffle plus donations came to £78 - a grand total of £766 - the best we have ever done at one of our many local events.

£1,000 Stockport Homes Grant Award 2013!

We are very pleased to announce that the Skate Park Project has been awarded the full £1,000 Stockport Homes Community Fund Grant that we applied for at the end of April. The award of this money was dependent on public voting and we are very grateful for all the support we received from people who voted on-line and also at the Spring Event at Brinnington on Tuesday 14 May 2013.

Stockport Homes grants have also helped Friends of Marple Memorial Park when we rescued the Ornamental Flowerbeds in the park from being grassed over and with our Diamond Jubilee Project in 2012, making them one of our most generous benefactors to date.

£250 Match Funding from the Marple Branch of the NatWest Bank

A very big thank you to Andy Vickerstaff, Manager of the Marple Branch of NatWest, and his staff who bought loads of raffle tickets from him! Andy joined us in the park during our Carnival Event and helped us to sell raffle tickets on the stall and in the park and also took part in the filming with Marple College too. He then went back to the bank and sold even more tickets to staff and, to top it all, he arranged for NatWest to match-fund the money we raised up to a value of £250, which was a fantastic boost!

£820 Raised during our Special Skatepark Event at Marple Carnival 2013

As part of Marple Carnival Friends of Marple Memorial Park held an event in the park on Carnival Day, Saturday 15 June 2013. It included skateboard and BMX demonstrations, coaching and mini-competitions for skate park users - which are all things that skate park users have requested in our consultations with them.

In terms of sponsorship and fund-raising, the event raised a final total of £820. This includes £160 competition sponsorship, £188 poster sponsorship and £196 raised on the day from the "Guess the Sweets", the Raffle, Steve Abbott's silhouettes, miscellaneous donations and £26.50 from Woodstock Pizza's sales at the Marple Tavern. We also had a fantastic £250 match-funding award from NatWest Bank (see above).

Our costs for the event included £150 on the trophies and prizes and £60 on 12 promotional t-shirts, leaving us with a balance of £610 before paying the £1,700 Team Extreme fee. This means that, as expected, we had to pay some of those fees from our skate park funding already raised, which gave us a net loss of £1,090 from the event but we just about broke-even if you include the Special £1,000 Award from Marple Carnival Committee that we will receive in October 2013.

The event was about much more than just raising funds and helped us to build local awareness and support significantly, so we feel it has been of great benefit to the project.

£125 Donated by New Mills, Marple and District Rotary Club

On Wednesday 25 April we received a donation of £125 from New Mills, Marple and District Rotary Club.

£986 from The Marple Website and Forever Manchester's "March Match" 2013

In early March 2013 Forever Manchester announced a "March Match" scheme, where they agreed to match any donations up to a total value of £500 made to Manchester groups between 5th and 11th March via localgiving.com. This was too good an opportunity to miss, so The Marple Website made a donation of £500 from the banner advertising income earned on the web site. After localgiving fees this was reduced to £486 but the good news was that the donation was matched by £500 from local charity Forever Manchester giving a total of £986 towards the Skatepark match funding.

£229 Fundraising at Marple Christmas Cracker - December 2012

For our first fund raising attempt the group had a stall at Marple Christmas Cracker 2012 and we held a raffle and a "guess how many sweets" competition. Lewis Abbott also sold some of his local photographs. Prizes for the raffle were kindly donated by NOTE Skate Shop of Manchester. The event raised a total of £229 towards the skatepark fund. We also conducted a survey of young people and adults at the event about our plans to refurbish the skatepark and we are pleased to report that there is a great deal of support for our aims. We also plan to continue the consultation on-line and in local schools.