The skate escape!

The park, which opened in 2005, is the brainchild of former UK skateboard champ Steve Gratton and has been supported by Sprotbrough Parish Council and Barclays Bank.

Steve won his British title at the age of 19 in Scotland - in the days when he used to have to travel hundreds of miles to get to skateboarding facilities as far away as Liverpool and London.

He has given up serious skateboarding now - but the new site at Anchorage Lane means he has state-of-the-art facilities just half a mile from his home.

Steve said: "I'm 46 now and I've got two kids, but I still have my board! I'm going to be bringing my four-year-old son Jay down to give him some coaching.

"I started when I was 16, but there were for many years no facilities in Doncaster. This is the first time I've lived this close to a skateboard park."

And it's a new-look park after getting a makeover from Doncaster artist Rick Shipley, along with a group of the park's regular users.

"About a dozen of the boarders came down to lend a hand with the paint job," Steve said. "They certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. They chosen the style themselves - it's based on the sort of graffiti art which used to be done in the 80s.

"Rick did the basic designs and the guys all helped to fill them in.

"They had to wear masks and long coats to do the spray painting. It was really funny - they looked like mad professors!

"But I didn't get my hands dirty - I was strictly a spectator this time."

The next event planned at the Anchorage Lane skate park is a competition for boarders, BMX bikers and rollerbladers at the end of September.