I am asking Bolton Council to look at setting up a Roller Skating Rink and build on the success of the now established Nevada Roller Skating sessions which take place at Little Lever.
The Nevada Roller Skating experience was originally set up two years ago when I was approached by local residents who regularly attended the rink at Altringham at the other side of Manchester. They were given financial assistance of £800 to get the project off the ground. Very quickly the project went from strength to strength with 150 + people attending every session thus keeping many of these young people off the streets.
Whilst a little sceptical at the time, I remembered my own personal memories as a teenager attending the original Navada (spelt with an A unlike the one in Little Lever spelt with a E) and the long queues of people waiting to get in.
The original building burned down in the 1980s bringing an end to a long well established venue for young and old to enjoy roller skating.
Nevada at Little Lever has a regular professional skating instructor every Sunday afternoon in a separate private hall who gives 1-2-1 tuition and who helps skaters work through grades. Many young and old novices within a matter of a few lessons become confident skaters.
Every week they have to close the doors because they are full - not just children ,but adults and families, all with a few simple aims - to have fun, roller skate and get exercise.
They are seeing a huge interest in skating in the area, and would like to see a full-time rink in operation in Bolton.
The Little Lever site is seeing visitors not just from Little Lever but from further afield -Liverpool, Manchester and other parts of the North West.
Introducing a Roller Skating Rink to Bolton town centre would be a massive plus for Bolton and would attract not only families from Bolton but also from the whole of the North West.
Bolton used to be well known for its Market. People used to flock to it from all over the North West and we had the finest shops in the region.
The decline is due, in my opinion, to the Trafford Centre, the Middlebrook and Parking Charges, and listening too much to some designers and planners who do not live in our town and who have visions that haven't been thought through. The classic example for that is the site of the former Cinema on Bradshawgate which sticks out like a sore thumb and is a blot on the Bolton landscape.
Roller Skating in Bolton Town Centre would bring a much needed boost to the town, and done right, financed jointly by the Private sector and the Local Authority combined, and bringing on board the expertise of the team at the Nevada rink in Little Lever I believe it can and will succeed.
I am urging Bolton Council to sit down in talks with myself, the team from the Nevada Rink in Little Lever and outside bodies and make this a reality before one of our neighbouring towns beats us to it.
The Bolton News has seen through its paper plenty of interest for the idea of a rink in Bolton and I would urge them through the paper to set up a campaign to put pressure on Bolton Council to seriously look at the idea.
Cllr Sean Hornby
Promoted by Paul Richardson 24 Ripon Close Little Lever BL3 1EQ on behalf of Sean Hornby 35 Williams St Little Lever BL3 1LQ
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