A SKATEBOARD-mad family are going loop the loopy after cramming a stunt ramp into their back yard!

The 18ft-wide and 5ft-high skateboard half-pipe fills the rear of Michael Groocock's terrace -- and his neighbours don't mind a bit!

In fact his pensioner next-door neighbour Margaret Lang said she was more excited about seeing the temporary wooden structure finished than Michael.

Michael, a self-employed joiner and self-confessed skateboard nut, said: "Some people like to potter around in their garden - I like to hop on my skateboard and potter about on the ramp!"

Michael, 39, and his son Jake Goodfellow, 15, who visits his father at the weekend, used to travel to Bolton and Stockport to go on skateboard ramps because there were no facilities nearby.

He said: "When you travel such a distance you have to really go the ramps for three to four hours, but sometimes you just want to skate for about 20 minutes.

"Once the ramp is finished that's just what we'll be able to do!"

Michael asked his neighbours' permission before beginning construction and they didn't object.

Mrs Lang said: "When you have a good neighbour you have to give and take and he might have moved if he couldn't build this. I would rather keep a good neighbour."

Michael, of Wardle Street, Stacksteads, said: "I started building it about a year ago to Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents guidelines but I still need to raise the money to buy the beechwood to finish it off. It will have cost about £2,000 for the materials.

"Once it is all done I will be painting it to match in with the area and preserve the wood."

Michael is an 'original' first generation skateboarder and got his first board when he was at All Saints High School, Rawtenstall.

He said: "About 18 months ago my son got into skateboarding and I just followed.

"There are a lot of skateboarders in their twenties and second generation and I know of some 40-year-olds who are still skating.

"It was my dream to build a proper half-pipe -- the one in Stubbylee Park in Bacup is not wide enough to do a lot of the stunts on.

"I went to a meeting when they were discussing how to spend regeneration money to build a skatepark but I reckoned it would take so long to get round to finally building it so I decided to make my own.

"If I had a bigger garden then I would have lots of skate ramps. That would be my dream."

His daughter Jasmine, nine, who lives with him and attends St Saviour's Primary School in Bacup, can't wait for the ramp to be finished so she can try out her in-line roller blades.

She said: "I think it is really good. I will be having a go on it as soon as it's finished."

The half-pipe, which does not need planning permission because it is temporary, will be used by Michael's family and will be finished in about five weeks.