About

With years of honed experience and sector business success, the Rush team set the standard for the finest skateparks in the UK

With years of honed experience and sector business success, the RUSH team set the standard for the finest skateparks in the UK

01
Community

Rush has community and enhancement to its core. It provides the finest facilities for government and sponsored supported services. The new facility will be built, as before, with a focus on local talent and trade-skills.

02
Expertise

Rush started in 2013 from modest means and quickly became renown internationally for its exceptional standards of operational and training expertise. Our business and facility, our community and training, are run by passionate experts.

03
Inclusivity

Everyone is welcome at RUSH. Our facility and its staff are world-class, and our welcome and support is universal. People from every walk of life are encouraged here. Positivity breeds self-esteem which makes for success and celebration.

04
Belief

Central to Rush is Belief. Belief in our community, our sport, our enterprise. We believe in the ability of every individual to realise their personal best - in the excellence that can be achieved through determination, persistence and teaching.

Rush strive to provide a globally recognised world class facility that promotes and teaches the benefits of wheeled action sports to the both the local community and international sporting community, regardless of social circumstance.

Debbie Bird
Chair Trustee Rush Sports Community Trust CIO

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Debbie Bird

Debbie Bird has had a varied business career from John Lewis and Blue Chip Pharmaceuticals to her own Business Coaching practise. With her 7 year old scooter riding son she became involved with Rush in 2014. She worked with the team professionally through the governments Growth Accelerator programme and subsequently became a Rush Trustee in 2016.
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She has worked tirelessly to keep the Rush dream alive, lobbying, networking, campaigning and fundraising. As founder trustee and Chair of Rush Sports Community Trust CIO she has been instrumental in building the team that will see the new Rush open.

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David Haydock
Chair Trustee Rush Sports Community Trust CIO

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David Haydock

David Haydock is a Chartered Accountant and has worked in leadership roles in manufacturing and aviation.

He says “I was a huge supporter and fan of the original Rush Skatepark. From its inception it quickly became such an important local facility for our kids. As both a parent and foster carer I witnessed first hand the impact it had on young peoples’ lives. To be able to build another park bigger and better will be a wonderful thing to do, and at a time when such facilities are so key to the well being of our children, especially for those that have had a challenging start to life, or simply don’t fit in the world of mainstream sports.”
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Not surprisingly he is the finance and compliance lead for Rush Sports Community Trust CIO.

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Matt Cottle
Trustee Rush Sports
Community Trust CIO

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Matt Cottle

I have been a part of the Rush project since it’s inception in 2013, working alongside the directors to create and provide a facility and customer experience that Rush was (and will be again) famous for. Having always had a keen interests in sports albeit primarily team sports, my many years of experience at Rush has given me a great insight in to the world of action sports and over the years I have developed a strong knowledge of the scene and a passion to provide a facility for future generations to grow and develop through action sports.

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Stan Bhargava
Trustee Rush Sports
Community Trust CIO

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Stan Bhargava

Stanley is a trustee of Rush Sport Community Trust. Stan was a supported rider at Rush Skatepark. He won first place out of 21 competitors in his category at the national vert skateboarding competition in Birmingham in 2021.
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Stanley has competed nationally in the UKVert Series over the past 5 years. He has gone from strength to strength achieving top three in competitions in Blackpool, Cardiff and Cornwall amongst others in 2021.
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When he isn’t studying in his spare time (other than skateboarding), he is a waiter at a local Italian Restaurant and loves downhill mountain biking.

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Jerry Norman
Skatepark Consultant

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Jerry Norman

Jerry Norman knowledge and experience comes from opening Rush Skatepark at Brimscombe in 2013.

With my experience of designing, building and running one of the best skateparks in the world, with my wife, there are so many positives that come from this. Users of the skate park do not discriminate by age, race or ability. Everyone wants everyone to do well. This came to light to the world during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

A skatepark isn't just for one discipline it should be for all. They learn from each other and many of the users start in one discipline but then then move onto the others.

The skate community camaraderie has shown in every competition from BMX, Inline, Skateboarding or Scootering, held at Rush over the 9 years we were open. This included local, national and international competitions such as the world championships.

Until you have lived, breathed and seen it you it may be hard to understand the effect it has on the users of a skatepark. It gives them self-belief, determination, communication skills and a sense of belonging that they probably do not get anywhere else.

The last 9 years have been a total privilege and an experience to which I will treasure for the rest of my life. I am really excited about what comes next.

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Adrian Rands
Fundraising Strategy
& Support

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Adrian Rands

Adrian is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Quantemplate, the insurance data automaton software. With a career spanning the Lloyd's of London reinsurance market, Silicon Valley enterprise technology and New York quantitative hedge funds, Adrian now supports the capital market activities of transatlantic corporations using advanced technology and modelling to help clients assess opportunities from a unique vantage point.

Sports are a central aspect to Adrian’s life with surfing, kitesurfing and polo a top priority when the swell, wind and seasons are on. Although his aversion to ‘very hard knocks’ precludes skating, scootering and BMX from his roster, Adrian is a firm believer that combining mind, body and soul through individual sports provides the bedrock for a lifetime of enjoyment.

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Edith Bowman
Supporter

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Edith Bowman

My name is Edith Bowman and I have a been a broadcaster for over 20 years. I am also a mother of 2 brilliant boys. We moved to the area in 2019 from London, prior to the move we spent a lot of time visiting family here. In that time we would regularly spend hours enjoying the facilities, atmosphere and community of Rush Skate Park and when we moved it was a home from home for my two boys. We were all distraught when it was unfortunately taken away from the community and look forward to doing all we can to reconnect the young and old who loved everything about Rush.

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Tim Brookman
Planning Consultant

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Tim Brookman

Tim is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (MRTPI). He has worked in the Private Sector for the last 15 years, consulting on a wide range of residential, commercial and sporting projects.

I first met Jerry and the Rush Team in 2019 at their former Brimscombe premises. On my first visit I was immediately struck by the enormity of what had been built up, both in terms of the park itself as well as the strong ties that were established with the local community.

Now, as we look forward, there are great opportunities for Rush to enhance its offerings: on its own site, in a new location to create a world class facility.

I have a vested interest: I’m a keen cyclist myself, and am constantly on the look out for new tracks and parks locally that I can take my kids to in order to practice their bike handling skills. To play a part in this project is an honour, and I look forward with working with the team to help shape and deliver this shared vision for Stroud, Gloucestershire and beyond.

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Tomas Millar
Architect

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Tomas Millar

After studying architecture at Edinburgh University and then The Bartlett (UCL) in London, in 2003 Tomas Millar returned to Stroud in Gloucestershire, where he grew up, to found Millar + Howard Workshop Architects with Tom Howard. An award-winning practice, the studio combines a fresh and original approach to design and a passion for craft and making with an innovative use of new technologies.

In the 90's Tomas used to skateboard at the Roxburgh house youth center in Stroud and more recently his 3 kids learnt to scoot at the old Rush at Brimscombe Port. Tomas believes passionately about building communities not just buildings. Millar + Howard Workshop has a reputation for delivering ultra low energy buildings that are sensitive to place.

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