Skate4Josh

  

On 17th April 2021 our life was turned upside down our best friend and son, Joshua Hall was killed in Cam. We will never be the same again. It is utterly unbelievable that we will never see him again and that all we have are memories. It is devastating.

We have though, from the outset tried to celebrate his life and focus on his amazing energy and presence. He was very funny and loved doing tricks on his scooter.He was very well known in the local community for being a kind,caring and loving boy.

At the first anniversary of his death, we brought his friends and fellow skaters together at Jubilee Park, Cam for a skate competition and celebration of his life. With the support of The Door, Cam Everside Football Team, Abi from Cam & Dursley Creatives and Woodfield Schools PTA we were able to welcome over 150 people, it was brilliant!

Last year we invited more of the wider community to the event – we had more PTAs, youth groups and local businesses running stalls/selling food, drinks etc. Cam Everside put on a football match and we had an incredible amount of both local and national skaters take part in a competition sponsored by RUSH and compered by international rider (and friend of Josh) Jordan Sweet. Over 300 people came along.

Cam Parish Council have granted us the chance to make this event a yearly memorial. We now want to make Skate4Josh at Jubilee Park a youth event. We want to inspire and celebrate our local young people and for it to become a real family friendly spring event.

At each event we gathered feedback from young people and families. This was incredibly positive. They loved having the festival feel, the chance to come together, take part and hang out with friends and family. We were told they loved the fact it was youth focused and was in tribute to Josh.

Therefore, based on this feedback:

Our aims:

1. To make the event bigger and more exciting for young people and families

2. To celebrate the life of Josh Hall

3. To have a skate competition that attracts national riders as well as local enthusiasts.

4. To widen the interest, building on the success of the last two years we want:

· To have more local youth groups/organisations to take part eg. Scouts, rugby club, cricket club, dance, schools

· To have a stage for young musicians and groups to play

· Have a bouncy castle, soft play for younger children etc

· Have more summer fair type stalls run by local groups/PTAs

· To have a creative section – to make something on the day

Until 2022 we had never organised anything. We have been lucky to have the support of The Door and their amazing Youth Worker Noah Beard, Create Gloucestershire’s Cam & Dursley Creatives Abi Nicol, friends and family. But now the event needs proper organising, so that everyone is safe and that our principles are followed:

· We do not allow alcohol or other substances on the field

· Everyone is valued and welcomed

· We celebrate young people and the memory of Josh

· Young people’s talents are celebrated

We will have at the event:

· Local schools/organisations putting on food/drinks/games

· Have local sport clubs delivering games for families to take part in (goal shooting, cricket runs etc)

· RUSH and Jordan Sweet will run a skate competition – from novice, including age categories plus pro skaters demonstrating incredible tricks

· A stage where local youth bands and dance groups can showcase their work, plus family friendly bands

· A creative area

· An under 4s area

· Lots of stalls ‘summer fair’ feel with games, raffles etc

· Knife crime agencies/police sharing the reality of knife crime – in fact we hope to launch at Skate4Josh a new film we are making with the police that in the Autumn will be shared in all Gloucestershire schools– we are very serious about preventing others going through what we have gone through and continue to deal with since Josh was killed

We are excited about growing the young people’s event and how this positive legacy can inspire/celebrate the life of our community, young people’s talents, and our friend.

Feedback over the past two years has been amazing – children, young people and families have all shared how much they enjoyed the day, how brilliant it is to have an event centred around young people in our community and how it is bringing an awareness to the dangers of knife crime to the next generation. We have to try everything we can to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again in our area.