 |  | Bedworth’s purpose-built skate park is in the Miners’ Welfare Park by the leisure centre on Coventry Road.
|  | In-liner pulling tricks |
It is free and is floodlit until 9.30pm Monday to Friday and until 8.30pm Saturday and Sunday. It’s also covered by CCTV and has a first aid cabin nearby, in case tricks don’t go quite as planned.
So, it sounds like paradise, but what do the skaters think?
Read the opinions below and see for yourself if this is your kind of heaven by having a virtual tour of the park. Just click on the two pictures above to launch two 360-degree tours to see the park in action.
You can also click the images button below to see a gallery showing some of the resident skaters strutting their stuff.
|  | The Lutterworth crew |
Kyle, aged 15, is typical of many of the skaters down there. He became interested through a friend, got a skateboard for his birthday and now goes to the park every day.
He said the park was a good part of Bedworth: “People slag it off but I’m grateful for it. It’s better than the parks in Coventry and Nuneaton. When it’s floodlit at night it gets really busy, after school and after work loads of skaters come here.”
Chris, aged 16, doesn’t skate but likes to chill at the park anyway. He said: “It’s a good place to hang out. The same people come here every day but then there’s a fair few we don’t know too, so there’s always people about.”
 People that don’t skate don’t know what they’re missing out on. The feeling that you get when you land a trick is amazing, it gives you a massive rush and makes you feel really good about yourself.  | | Adam, aged 13 |
Ashley and Danny, both aged 13, said they like the park because it’s “pure street”. Danny travels from Lutterworth every weekend with his friends Joe, Jake and Adam. All aged between 11 and 13, they have to rely on lifts from parents, but say it’s worth it to get to the park.
Danny said: “We get bother if we skate street in the town centre, because everyone thinks that just because we’re skaters we’re going to cause trouble.
There’s never been any trouble that we’ve seen here, though. Threats get made sometimes, but nothing bad’s ever happened that we know about.”
|  | Practising on the park's rails and ramps |
The crew from Lutterworth have had a dream inspired by the park. They want to get much better at skating, buy a van and skate all over the world.
Jo said: “We want to get a pretty decent car when we’re older, like a mini van. We can have all our boards in the back and travel the world skating.”
They said anyone interested in skating should give it a go. Jake said: “They should try it. They can always stick to the smaller side bit before they get their confidence.”
Danny added: “Everyone brings an adult with them when they come for the first time, too, because they can help you to get a go if it’s busy and if you hurt yourself, you know they’re there.”
All of them agreed skating is worth the small injuries. Adam said: “It’s just all round fun basically.
"People that don’t skate don’t know what they’re missing out on. The feeling that you get when you land a trick is amazing, it gives you a massive rush and makes you feel really good about yourself.”
The others agreed skating at Bedworth gave them confidence, skills and a lot of fun, as well as learning a lot from seeing other skaters.
|  | Chilling and watching the skaters |
The park is surprisingly well looked-after. There is a committee made up of skaters and council members that decided what needs doing and it seems to work very well. The park is in good nick and when we were there a new funbox and kicker were being installed, which the skaters couldn’t wait to try out.
Still on the wish-list is a half pipe and bowl, so the park is set to develop and get ever better over the next few years.
The park also hosts competitions and demos. Follow the links on the left to find out more about these or go down there and ask any of the skaters at the park about what events are coming soon.
Get in touch using this email link to let us know what you think of the skate parks in the area.
Which is your favourite? What could make them better? Should Atherstone have its own park?
Let us know.
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