Hailsham mayor visits Tony Tack Memorial Skate Park

The Tony Tack Memorial Skate Park, which was opened to the public in 2012 and named after a local resident who dedicated much of his life to supporting the children and young people of the town, is located on the Maurice Thornton Playing Fields and features both street and transition skate elements.

Adopted and maintained by the Town Council, funding from the £132,000 project was sought by the Town Farm Residents’ Association, which included £50,000 from the Big Lottery-funded Changing Spaces scheme, £40,000 from Veolia, £30,000 from Wealden District Council and £5,000 from Hailsham Town Council.

An additional £6,000 was injected into the project by the Safer Wealden Partnership, of which the Town Council is a representative.

The proposal to construct a new skate park in Hailsham was only part of a wider package of improvements to recreational facilities in the town, and further improvements continue to be made today as part of the Town Council's assets improvement plan, including its aspirations to enhance leisure facilities on the town and promote an active lifestyle for residents.

"The idea of a new skate park for our town was an excellent one and took a lot of work from Town Farm residents, the Town Council and other project partners to get the idea off the ground and achieve what we have today," said Town Mayor Cllr Paul Holbrook.

"Since its opening, the much-needed skate park has been well used and continues to benefit younger people in Hailsham year on year. Furthermore, the Maurice Thornton Playing Field is the ideal location for the facility."

"Having visited the skate park today, I can already see how well used it is, and how grateful the young people of our town are to have this facility of such a high quality. It goes without saying that The Town Council is proud to maintain the skate park to an optimum standard and we will continue to deliver on our commitment to provide young people with high quality play facilities in the future."

Town Clerk John Harrison commented: "The Tony Tack Skate Park project was a great success, and it has been amazing to see so many people utilising the facility since its opening."

"We know how important facilities like these are for young people, and the skate park stands as a real community hub for our town's younger and adventurous residents."