WATCH: Inverness mall back in use by skateboarders thanks to Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund and Highland Council

An indoor mall at an Inverness centre has been brought back into use by skateboarders of all ages and abilities, practising their flips and slides as part of a wellbeing project.

Hilton Community Centre is currently hosting a Skate and Create project including free skate coaching and open sessions plus art and photography sessions.

In recent weeks, volunteers from the Inverness Wheeled Sports Club (IWSC) have constructed a ramp in the downstairs mall, previously a long-time venue for skateboarders in cold and wet weather.

And while skateboarders from complete novices to the more experienced can have a go, upstairs in the centre The Inverness Darkroom, a voluntary organisation, offers workshops such as mobile phone photography.

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The project, which has been possible with funding from the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, is also supported by Inverness Open Arts and The Brent Centre Highland, a mental health service for young people, plus Highland Council and High Life Highland.

It is currently running for two months until the end of March with sessions on Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.

Barry Collard, co-chairperson of the IWSC and a Skateboard GB certified coach, is an enthusiastic advocate of the mental health benefits of skateboarding, maintaining it teaches people valuable life lessons such as perseverance and positive coping skills - as well as helping to combat social isolation.

The 49-year-old, who is a graphic designer with NHS Highland’s public health department, only took up the sport in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic as something he could do with his children.

“For me it has been life changing,” Barry said.

“It is a sport where you have to accept you are going to fail. Your are going to get injured.

“It is something which teaches you co-ordination and a sense of balance.

“I think one of the best ways to describe it is that you have to be in the moment. You cannot be thinking about something else.

“You have to concentrate - that is one of the things you get from it.

“You have to switch off when you are doing it.”

Despite a widely-held perception that skateboarding is a youngsters’ activity, Barry said it attracted all ages.

“It is a welcoming sport,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter if you have never stepped on a skateboard before, or are a veteran skater who has been doing it for 30 years.

“We get children from five years old to people in their 50s, men and women.”

He said the Hilton Village Mall had previously been used as a skateboarding venue but had stopped due to the pandemic and although there was an attempt to get it going again, it had faltered.

But thanks to support from the council and High Life Highland for the project, skateboarders had been able to return to mall - with positive feedback from skateboarders, parents and the local community including nearby shops and passers-by who welcome what was a wasted area being brought back into life.

“It has been really well received,” he said.

“We know skateboarders who were having to stay indoors and they were ecstatic to have somewhere to skate again.”

Depute Inverness Provost and Inverness Ness-side councillor, Jackie Hendry, who has visited the project said the IWSC had reached out to the community in Hilton and further afield to offer indoor skateboarding coaching to anyone regardless of age, ability or previous experience.

“They know that some people do not have access to equipment and accessories, so have this all to hand and readily available,” she said.

“I have been touched to see very young children listening carefully to their instructor to get the hang of a certain move. I have seen the older boys and girls doing amazing stunts on the big ramp.

“I can sense the thrill and feeling of well-being after completing a session.

“This is a positive, feel-good project, which I believe can become a more permanent fixture.

“When the weather is warmer, the skateboarding will move back outside, but having an indoor facility going forwards from autumn to spring gives our young people another way to take part in something to help give them a sense of achievement and socialise with other people of different ages, gender and cultural backgrounds.”

Cllr Hendry said the additional activities of the Inverness Darkroom and Art enabled the Skate and Create project to be inclusive to all.

James King, acting treasurer for IWSC, has been a skateboarder for about 24 years and his five-year-old son is now showing an interest.

He hoped access to the Hilton mall could continue and said one of the most important aspects of the project was that the sessions were free along with the use of equipment.

“It is a fantastic space especially for young kids,” James said.

“They get an opportunity to see how to progress, how to get up again, how to stay positive about failures - it takes a lot of resilience to keep getting back on again.

“The other aspect is community resilience.

“Your achievements are everyone’s achievements. Your failures are everyone’s failures.”

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