About Us
We are Dover Activity Parks CIC, a social enterprise, specifically set up to design, build and maintain the new skate/activity park and associated facilities in Connaught Park Dover.
As a community interest company our aim is to work with all of our users and supporters & the broader community to provide the best facility we can for all of you; to this end we have to re-invest any profits we make into the business in order to improve what we offer to you, our community.
Currently we have four directors :
Ross Miller
A retired business consultant who spent his career in financial services in the City of London and who now actively supports community initiatives in Dover. He has previously been Chair of Dover Big Local, led the project to convert the old Co-op supermarket into the Co-Innovation Centre/Stembrook shopping Arcade, is a director of Pebbles Community Facilities CIC & still runs his own consultancy offering business support to social enterprises and coaching and mentoring to young entrepreneurs.
Charlie Spore
Charlie works for the NHS and has been a keen and active skateboarder since his teens. With many years of skateboarding experience & a SkatboardGB coaching qualification he leading our offerings of taster workshops, private sessions & school lessons. Charlie was instrumental in setting up Dover Skate Park Project, out of which the current CIC grew, and has campaigned for over 10 years to get us to where we are today.
Matt Lund
Matt currently works in the care sector, is a keen active skateboarder, as well as a qualified SkateboardGB coach.
Mikee Chen
Mikee currently works for a recruitment consultants, has been a Community Development Officer for EKC Group (East Kent College) & a Personal Trainer as well as a qualified SkateboardGB coach. He also runs FBBB (For Boarders By Boarders) another CIC
Coaching Team
All our freelance coaches are DBS checked, have passed safeguarding courses & carry Public Liability Insurance through their National Governing Body, in addition Dover Activity Parks CIC also carries its own PLI.
Charlie, Matt & Mikee all work as coaches for us on our sessions
Callum Austen, Joshua Sharpe, James Garcia-Sierra have recently qualified & will be delivering skateboard sessions on our behalf
Opportunities
We are currently seeking interest in the following freelance position
British Cycling Qualified coaches to coach basic cycling skills as well as mountain biking, bmx & cyclo-cross.
There will be further opportunities to work with us to gain coaching qualifications in the above or other sports & activities as we develop the activity park concept & deliver our plans.
If you are interested in any of the above or in working with us please use the Contact Us page
Some History
The existing Skate Park was built over 15 years ago at the same time as the one in Deal; the Pencester Gardens facility was funded by a grant from Barclays Bank and others.
Its design and materials are dated leading to difficulties in maintenance with the transition from tarmac to metal ramps being awkward & becoming unsafe, in addition the tarmac surface is very uneven which presents challenges to young and new users as well as hindering progression.
Growth in user group numbers and the use by non-wheelsports users as a comparatively safe meeting/socialising space means the facility has become too small for the demonstrated need. In addition due to the size there is a lack of variety and challenge leading to a lot of potential users travelling to other sites in other towns.
These challenges and associated dissatisfaction led to a number of the users coming together in 2011 and set up Dover Skate Park Project (DSPP) to actively campaign for a new purpose built concrete facility. The group approached Dover Big Local in late 2013/early 2014 for assistance and support which has been provided since that time.
Since then the DSPP has actively looked at potential sites and worked really hard with Ross’s assistance to develop a solid working relationship with Dover District Council, which ultimately led to the current discussions around Connaught Park being used to develop a new facility.