The co-founder of a city skatepark is crowdfunding to help clear his start-up debts and "kickstart a new era" for the community.

Sam Avery opened The Drug Store shop almost 20 years ago and has been at the heart of Norwich's skateboarding scene ever since.

In 2022, he co-founded Community East, a non-profit skatepark inside the St Peter Parmentergate Chruch, to give the next generation somewhere to learn the craft.

But the skatepark's start-up fees - combined with a difficult post-Covid period at his shop - left him in thousands of pounds of personal debt.

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Mr Avery was forced to close The Drug Store this summer and is now crowdfunding to chip away at this debt so he can develop Community East and "kickstart a new era of skateboarding in Norwich".

On his Gofundme page, he explained: "The more I can raise to clear debts, the more time I will have to spend on Community East, teaching people to skateboard with the aims of creating social connections and improving physical and mental health in a fun and friendly environment.

"It’s all good stuff that benefits people."

In less than a month, the page has reached £1,685 of its £10,000 target.