On November 3 the inaugural meeting of the ‘Rory Rogers Memorial Park Wheel-Sports Facility Campaign’ took part at the Regency Hall in Saundersfoot.

A native of Saundersfoot, Rory passed away aged 32 in December 2019.

A fully qualified plumber, Rory loved surfing, skateboarding travelling, music and cooking.

“It was an extremely productive evening and we had some great input both from within the room and via Zoom,” said Nina Thomas, Saundersfoot resident and founder of the campaign.

“We’ve formed a constitution which will allow us to pursue funding and a letter has been written to Saundersfoot Community Council exploring the possibility of acquiring the land behind the tennis courts and MUGA for this facility, which we hope will be discussed in due course.”

It was agreed at the meeting that the proposed facility would be a wheel facility encompassing a number of wheel sports including skateboards, blades, scooters, BMX’s, cycles, wheelchairs and a pump track.

Skateboarding and other wheel-sports are constructive activities that require skill and focus.

They are a way for people of all ages to derive exercise, enjoyment and social interaction.

There is evidence to suggest that facilities of this type actually help to reduce anti-social behaviour, as well as encouraging young people to become more active, particularly in outdoor sports.

Not every young person has a predisposition to engage in team or contact sports and skateboarding and other wheeled sports are becoming increasingly popular.

With Skateboarding and BMX now Olympic Sports it has been muted that the campaign could potentially gain support from Welsh sporting governing bodies, and who knows the campaign might be able to encourage the Olympic stars of the future by providing a wheeled-sports facility in Saundersfoot.

Local resident Rebecca Evans who attended the meeting said: “What a perfect name and a positive meeting, well done Nina and I look forward to supporting the future development of this site for our children.”, whilst Kelly Wharton-Edwards commented: “Absolutely love this and Rory Rogers what a fitting memorial for a Saundersfoot legend".

Nina continued: “Although Saundersfoot has changed beyond recognition since I grew up here, one thing sadly remains the same, the lack of facilities for the youth of the village.

“We hope we can rectify this anomaly by the creation of this much needed facility for Saundersfoot.

“Within a very short time we've had so much support from the local community all echoing the same sentiment. It’s time to provide something for this lost generation.”

The proposed wheel facility will be named the ‘Rory Rogers Memorial Park’ as a fitting tribute to Rory, a well-known local skater.

His aunt Deb Rogers said: “That's Absolutely amazing and such a lovely memorial for our beautiful Rory Rogers and very apt as he used to do everything!”

Rory’s family added: “We feel truly honoured to have Rory’s name involved with this great idea.

“He was a keen skater who would have loved to have had something like this available in Saundersfoot. The youth of the village would really benefit from having a skate park to keep them connected.”

Saundersfoot's newest community group's elected chairman is Dewi Thomas, Treasurer elected is Mark Flaherty and Secretary elected is Nina Thomas.

If you would like to find out more about this positive community campaign or support this initiative take a look at the Rory Rogers Memorial group on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/groups/962872480958976