WE ARE A NOT FOR PROFIT ORGANISATION. Registered charity No : 1115146
Our Mission: To provide a safe and secure environment for young people in Northamptonshire to participate in urban activities and to be recognised as a leading provider of urban sports in the UK using a range of partnerships to become a sustainable social enterprise
Mandy's Adrenaline journey
In late 2001 Mandy Young, mother of 14 year old boy was devastated to learn her son had been the target of a group of local louts who had no regard for human life. Her son John had struggled throughout his life surviving 12 years with an undiagnosed brain tumour that lead to major surgery, radiotherapy and subsequently chemotherapy. At the age of 13 John experienced school on a regular basis for the first time making friends with a group of local skateboarders and instantly felt he no longer had to explain himself or worry about how he looked or felt. So, with guitar on his back and skateboard under his arm he went off to his music lessons one night. At the end of his lesson John made his way to the end of the road and within minutes had been the victim of a vicious, mindless attack. His attackers knew of his health problems but disregarded them and continued to beat John. Mandy and her family were shattered beyond belief, but the only way to overcome more devastation was to turn the experience into a positive one rather than dwell on what had happened.
After consultation with John and his friends a public meeting was set up and Mandy attended under the impression that a few local young people needed somewhere safe to do their sports naively thinking that a local ramp would be the result. After 2 meetings it became clear the local urban riders and skaters were passionate and dedicated enough to see the project through to create an indoor park. So, Mandy and the local kids started to work on the project.
In December 2002 Mandy registered the project as a charity (Corby Wheels Project) and started researching and making contact with people in the urban industry to understand the culture and attract funding for the future. During these months the local kids were continual targets for attacks and it became essential to provide a safe environment sooner rather than later!!
After months of research it was apparent that leasing a local building and proving sustainability long term was going to be extremely difficult, so Mandy approached Mr Ashley Pover (ex-CEO) of Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, he agreed to donate land and resources to immediately build an outdoor park until we could take the project to its long term vision; and indoor sustainable venue. We approached Corby Borough Council who supported us from the beginning via £15k of funding towards equipment, the Challenge was on!!!! On July 21 2003 we opened one of the biggest outdoor parks and as a result hosted over 13000 visitors in 20 months.
We were beginning to change perceptions and attract funds from the Community Safety Partnership, Local Network Fund, Lloyds TSB, The Tudor Trust and many more, we were beinning to tick boxes high on council/regional and national strategies. Unbeknown to us, we were trading as a Social Enterprise and with the help of Philip Tulba of SEEM (Social Enterprise for East Midlands) and Helen Cund, (formerly Sports Regeneration Manger for Corby) we began to recognise all our attributes and skills and slowly began to pluck them out one by one nurturing them to grow and develop into the future.
The thought of having to go through another autumn/winter in a lonely portacabin in the middle of what felt like a wind tunnel at times soon made us realise we couldn' survive another year and become sustainable, infiltrating the urban industry proved impossible so we were going to have to "go it alone". Corby was in the process of a major regeneration programme and Rockingham Speedway was changing owners so it was time to strike while the iron was hot!!!
After talks with Mr Alfred Buller of BeeBee Developments Ltd we were offered an indoor site; a 51000sq ft former chicken factory on the Weldon North Industrial Estate and signed the lease in March 2006. With no pre secured funding, a bunch of passionate and dedicated local people we managed to secure £125k to prepare and install an indoor park. Working closely with Mr Shaun Scarfe of Four1Four Ltd consultation was carried out with both young/old, local/national, novice and professional participants within the BMX, Skateboard and Inline skating cultures to try and build something for everyone that would help us to sustain the park long term.
On July 15th 2006 we opened one of the biggest parks in the UK and since then have continued with the help of funding organisations, SEEM, Lloyds TSB, WREN, Grantscape and many others including Corby Borough Council and County Council, our dream had come true; or had it?
We still weren't satisfied, we had to make this the best!! So Mandy secured further funds to install the UK's only Resi jump box, a foam pit and bowl that would enable participants whether old or young, novice or professional to train and improve their skills.
Since opening on 25th July 06 we have hosted over 117000 visits and have become known as the biggest, safest and best park in the UK with a great atmosphere and welcoming attitude. We are now an award wining social enterprise, picking up awards for BBC Enterprise in Sport sponsored by EMDA, Finalist - Business Women of the year 2009, Pride of Northamptonshire, Anne Frank Award, High Sherrif's Award, Business in the Community SEIF Award, Cultural Change 2010 with CBC + £3k, and many more including the PAG -Volunteer group of the year 2008.
We launched Europe's first and only 14ft x 76ft resi/vert ramp housed in a purpose building sponsored by Corus Group plc. We now have one of the best music band practise rooms in the county, a recording studio (Premier) and education room as well as a refurbished internet suite.
2009
Installed a new skate only warehouse adjacent to our existing building
We have installed a new 7ft midi ramp, 2nd bowl and spine and resurfaced the resi jump box.
2010
And, as if that isn't enough Mandy has managed to secure fundsfrom WREN to install a 2ft midi ramp and 7ft resi mini ramp. Adrenaline Alley ensures 100% of its profits are ploughed back into the business and therefore have by popular demand agreed to upgrade the existing pit, open up all the wall area and install another foam pit all to be completed by end of July.
We continue to drive forward and are developing plans to expand our existing site over another 2 buildings to include indoor/outdoor parks, plaza, bowls, dirt jumps and much more. We continue to work with a range of partners to help integrate services and provide better facilities for young people in Corby they can be proud of and continue our mission to improve the lives of young people.