Beth Anderson at the skate park by the tennis courts in Finsbury Park

SKATERS may soon have a new place to kickflip, ollie and grind following a mother’s campaign to expand her local skate park.

Beth Anderson, from Stroud Green, has worked tirelessly for the past two years to enlarge Finsbury Park’s skating facilities.

Haringey, the council responsible for the management of Finsbury Park, has so far pledged up to £100,000 towards the scheme.

Ms Anderson managed to raise more than £50,000 with a campaign last year but said the project is still £100,000 off its target. This week she called on Haringey Council to pledge the remaining sum from the money raised over the summer from festivals and events.

“We’ve had a full summer of events in this park,” she said.

Based near the tennis courts, the current skate park is small with a simple concrete layout featuring two bowls, a “hubba”, or angled ledge, and several grind rails.

The park sits beside a vacant “wasteland plot” of concrete, which Ms Anderson thinks could be put to better use as an extension to the skate park.

How the campaign wants the facility to look. IMAGE: BETONGPARK

Lockdown convinced Ms Anderson of the need for an expanded skate park, when demand for the space “exploded”.

Ms Anderson’s daughter and son, twins aged 12, are both keen skaters who have been using the skating facilities for the past seven years.

“I was really glad to find something that my boy and girl were equally enjoying and equally good at,” Ms Anderson said.

She watched her children learn the “unspoken rules” of the bowl from older skaters, impressed by the supportive, inter­generational community.

“It’s such a lovely way of working. It’s really respectful.

“That really struck me because I suppose I’d been bombarded with stereotypes about skaters being rough, druggies or whatever,” she said, adding that while children’s facilities in the park are “very good,” there is not much money “put into [teenagers’] age group and demographic”.

She thinks stereotypes “might be why we’ve prioritised funding for kids up to about 12… I think there’s a slight fear of encouraging teenagers in the park”.

Ms Anderson, who is a member of the Friends of Finsbury Park, said: “But we feel that’s exactly where teenagers should be. They should be in our parks, and they should have access to really good sports equipment and safe spaces.”

A new skate park will benefit everyone, she said: “There are also young kids and adults who use this. We need to embrace them in public spaces.”