A NEW festival is to help raise funds to keep a place for Oxford skateboarders and BMXers to practise their sports.

The Out to Graze Festival, which will be held on the Oxon/Bucks border in Shabbington from Friday, June 13, to Sunday, June 15, is in aid of the Oxford Wheels Project, which runs a skatepark in Meadow Lane and is hoping to construct a permanent facility in Cowley Marsh Park.

Co-organiser Edd Lewington has previously being involved in fundraising activities for the project, running events at The Cellar nightclub and had a "keen interest" in local community projects like Oxford Wheels.

He said: "I used to go down to the skate ramps when I was younger and I feel it is a great place for kids to spend time productively, which is why we are keen to support Oxford Wheels Project in any way we can."

The event, which will be a small, boutique festival for up to 500 people with a ticket price of £30, will have a dance music slant and will feature performances from Oxford acts including live techno/electronica act DogShow, Cowley Road-based reggae act Raggasaurus and Borderville.

Aiden Larkin, of Count Skylarkin' fame, will also be putting on a performance during the weekend.

Mr Lewington said: "We felt that Truck and Cornbury catered really well for the bands side of things, but did not really cover dance music.

"After speaking to the main dance music promoters in the city, Matt Braddock and Nick Gladwin, we decided to launch the festival as an outlet for local dance music acts."

Jack Richens, chief executive of the Wheels project, said: "It's come at a good time for us, what with the skate park so high on the agenda at the moment."

He said any money donated would be spent on the upkeep of the existing ramps in Meadow Lane rather than the ongoing planning battle for the Cowley Marsh site, which is due to be decided on Wednesday, May 25.

Tickets for the festival are on sale now from wegottickets.com, or in person from Ryouki, in St Ebbe's, and Baby Simple, in Cowley Road.