Adrenaline Alley is a charitable award winning social enterprise and a Company Ltd by Guarantee. Our mission is "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."
In late 2001, Mandy Young was devastated to learn that her son John had been the target of local louts. John had struggled through his childhood due to an undiagnosed brain tumour, which resulted to major surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. At 13 years old, he made friends with a group of local skateboarders and he no longer felt the need to explain himself, or worry about his appearance or feelings. However, one night John was attacked viciously by those who knew of his health issues but disregarded them. Mandy and her family were devastated, but were determined to turn the experience into a positive one.
After talking with John and his friends they attended a public consultation meeting. It quickly became apparent the intimidation and lack of facilities were a major barrier for young people participating in extreme sports, and that it was not just an estate problem but a national one. With that, Corby Wheels Project was established late in 2002. For two years Mandy researched the sports and funding opportunities while realising the locals needed a quick fix to safely do their sports.
She approached Ashley Pover (ex-CEO) of Rockingham Motor Speedway who agreed a donation of land and resources to build an outdoor park until an indoor facility became feasible. Corby Borough Council supported us offering £15,000 of funding for equipment and the Community Safety Partnership donated funds to help young people access the park with our own transport, which was key to building our statistics and identifying the local need.
On 21st July 2003, we opened our gates and hosted 13000 visitors in 20 months. We became one of the biggest outdoor parks in the UK. Perceptions about the young people and the project were changing and we were attracting funds, implementing fundraising, training and income strategies to identify how we could generate more funding; unbeknown to us at the time we were trading as a Social Enterprise. With the help of Phil Tulba, Social Enterprise for East Midlands and Helen Cund (formerly Sports Regeneration Manager for Corby), Mandy began to understand and recognize the organisations' full potential and began to develop the vision to create an indoor sustainable social enterprise.
The urban industry was proving almost impossible to infiltrate being dominated by males, current/ex-professionals and those who have built businesses up over the years. 'Another woman do-gooder just trying to do the same as others before her and failed', 'What does she know, she doesn't ride or skate', 'I'll believe it when I see it'. Mandy was a woman on a mission!!
It became clear that renting a building and sustaining the project would be very difficult so Mandy and the team approached Bee Bee Developments to secure the donation of a building and ensure all the generated income was put back into the organisation, so the impact of our aims and objectives could be measured and we could make a bigger difference to the young people. Corby was undergoing a major regeneration project, Rockingham Speedway was changing owners, funding was available so it was time to do some serious negotiations and get an indoor site.
In March 2006 we were extremely fortunate that Bee Bee Developments offered us an indoor site albeit a 51,000 sq ft former chicken processing factory, located in the Weldon North Industrial Estate. Not fully understanding the implications but believing passionately that we could deliver our vision we signed the lease and with £125,000 of partner funding, a team of passionate and dedicated local people, the services of ramp builders Four1Four Ltd and participantsof all disciplines within the sports work started on a park that would work for everyone.
On 15th July 2006, Adrenaline Alley opened one of the biggest ramp parks in the UK. This however was only the start, we had a lot to learn! Mandy secured funding to install the UK's only Resi Jump box, a foam pit and bowl, allowing participants of any age and skill level to improve their skills. Mandy then moved onto developing an extension with Corus Group plc and install Europe's only 76ft x 14ft resi/vert ramp. We developed other areas for outreach work and offer services such as:
- Study/education Centre
- After school club/Curriculum activities
- Consultation
- Hire equipment
- Private hire for individuals and groups
- Professionalmusic band practice room
- Premier recording studio
- Internet suite
- Empire retail and repair shop
- Cafe
Funding from WREN secured the opening of our new skate only area in April 2010 enabling those preferring street elements to access and participate in an adjacent building way from the ramp element of the existing park. We continue to develop with the help of WREN and have installed a second foam pit, 2ft micro ramp and 7ft resi midi ramp.
In 2011 we officially opened our new disability areas, ball pit, outdoor dirt jumps, indoor cycle track, BMX maintenance area, the UK's first scooter only park and The Shack bistro area.
We continue to strive forward and are in the development stages of delivering our vision to create a performance Centre and event arena in an adjacent buildings on land donated once again by BeeBee Developments Ltd, who we owe a great deal of thanks to!!
As a charitable social enterprise we continue to work in partnership to deliver our ultimate goal and overall to continue improving the lives of young people in Corby giving them a facility they can own and be proud of.
Mandy and Paul's son John died on 17th September 2010 aged 24 years - Adrenaline Alley has become his legacy.
