Any old skates? Any old skates? That's a call from Russelle Knaap, president of the Hamilton Roller Skating Club.
She says the club is desperate to get as many pairs of old roller skates as it can lay its hands on, to cater to the burgeoning demand from youngsters keen to try the sport. Several hundred children turn up every weekend at the club's skating rink in Melville Park, keen to have a go and already some of them are showing high skills in the sport.
"For just $2 they can get into the rink, and for another $2 hire a pair of skates. They have so much fun," says Mrs Knaap.
"There's all different sorts of skating and overseas the artistic skating is a very big sport. The best of them are as good as the best skaters on ice."
Mrs Knaap says she believes there are lots of unwanted or unused roller skates in Hamilton homes, left over from an earlier generation of young people who were keen skaters when SkateWorld was operating at the southern end of Victoria Street.
"That closed about 20 years ago, and I'm sure there must be hundreds of pairs of good skates sitting in homes doing nothing," she says. "We'd love to have them, so some of these kids, whose parents can't afford to buy expensive new skates, can have a go at the sport."
She says the club is also seeking pairs of unused good-quality skating leotards for use by the children.
"If we can get a good pool of reasonable quality skates and a number of sets of leotards, we can get a competition going for the children.
"It's great to see them get all dressed up."
Mrs Knaap says as well as learning to skate, the sport brings other benefits to the children, including boosting their confidence, building their concentration and physical co-ordination and improving their physical wellbeing.
"We need as many sets of skates as we can get, from little ones to full adult size. Sometimes we get whole families coming to the rink. We now have some mums and dads getting back into the sport and they're helping their own kids learn."
Mrs Knaap says she hopes to organise a team of young Hamilton skaters to take part in the national skating competition in September next year.
For further information Ph: 829-8102; email pearl4skate@hotmail.com