AFTER facing an uncertain future two popular Furness roller derby teams have found a new home.
Following a challenging two years Furness Firecrackers and The Barrow Infernos have a new venue, giving them a regular training venue and scope for future expansion and new members.
Furness Firecrackers formed with a women’s team in late 2010 and had gone from strength to strength with the addition of a men’s team, The Barrow Infernos.
The teams lost their original training venue which saw them switching between several temporary locations where neither team were able to train on a full track.
After previous successes in the roller derby league and developing four international players, the team numbers began to decline last year as players became more frustrated with the lack of appropriate training facilities.
Faced with finding a new training venue, the committee which runs the teams began discussions with GLL, the UK’s largest leisure social enterprise after being introduced at a South Lakeland District Council meeting last year.
After a trial run with several skaters testing out the suitability of the floor at Better, Ulverston Leisure Centre’s tennis centre building, the centre got the thumbs up and work began between Better staff and the roller derby teams to produce suitable training dates and plans.
Rebecca Jones, the chairwoman of The Furness Firecrackers said: “Both the Firecrackers and the Infernos have now completed training sessions in our new venue, excited does not describe how we are feeling! Our first new intake session has taken place with over 15 skaters joining us. We have also booked Better, Kendal Leisure Centre, for May 28th to host our first home game in two years. The future for the league looks great and we always welcome new players.”
GLL partnership manager for South Lakeland, Derek Jones said: “This was a great opportunity to work with local teams to ensure they could remain sustainable and continue with the successful development of roller derby in the borough. Hopefully we’ll soon see some more league wins and further international players very soon.”
Visit the Facebook page @furnessfirecrackers for details about games and joining the league.
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