Stephano

Good to see Steph back on a board. Nollie flip up the euro. Yes!

Nicky Howells Makes Cover

Mr Howells made the front cover of a very prestigious publication. Well done sir, finally the recognition in the mainstream media you deserve!

Don't do that there!

The other day I stacked trying a backside noseblunt at Emersons Green. I went tumbling down the transition whilst my board flew off somewhere over the top of the platform. Unfortunately the board had zipped into some kiddies shin! This is something that has happened to all skaters who skate ramps or parks at sometime or other, it's painful, really painful and makes you swear and jump around. But you soon learn to keep well back from copings and always watch someone who is approaching one, especially if high velocity is involved. You might even take the precaution of standing with your board guarding your shins, I do.
Anyway, I got up and asked the kid if he was alright, and he had a right pop at me telling me not to do tricks where he was standing! Well, that's never happened to me before. Being told by another skater not to skate parts of a skatepark because someone is standing close to it. Wow, and I thought that was the one place on this planet where I could skate, without being chased away by security, or scolded by pedestrians. Just goes to show how wrong you can be.

More Gonz

The Gonz Killing the old Deaner Half in Bristol Town. Sick!!!!!!!. You should check out the ramp.

The Gonz

The Gonz living legend and talented artist to boot.

Big Push

Here's a little piece that James Harris wrote after his big push mission last summer. This is pretty late in going up, but it's a great piece. Plus it's something other then the Emersons Green skatepark.

What do you get when you put an Irishman, a Scottsman, two Welshmen and five Englishmen together? The answer, the Shiner Big Push team 2010.

This 9-day extravaganza started off on a high, literally. What I mean by this is a very traumatic event that involved two police officers, two stashes of a pungent green substance and 9 extremely troubled skateboarders. This part of the story is an extremely long one, so if you’d like to know more, ask me in person sometime as I don’t want to turn this jolly little article into a chunky block of paper.

Being that I am a born and bred Britstolian, I am used to the many wonders that Bristol has to offer to the skateboard scene. Grey, rough surfaces and the odd bit of smooth terrain cover our horizon and challenge and encourage us to make the most out of what we have been given. This indeed is the case for our humble city, but what about other cities, their scenes and their spots? This Big Push tour allowed us to experience all three.

Edinburgh, hands down has the best skatepark I have ever been to. Bowls big enough to hold all the scooter kids in the UK, a street section that gets the thumbs up from the all terrain vehicle, Dan Wileman and gaps big enough to suit the mighty pop of Stu Graham.

From the eyes of a filmer, skateparks aren’t the most attractive thing to capture on tape, but this park is an exception. It makes you feel like you have been teleported to one of the many gigantic American parks that clutter the video players of the World Wide Web, therefore, it looks OK.

Sunderland is a must for anyone looking for a legitimate, bust-free street plaza. The wavy ledges, low block amphitheatre and road gaps could be referred to as heavenly, and brought us a few full tapes worth of amazing footage. I think we spent a good few hours there, and the only reason we left was because rain stopped play. After all, we were still in England!

Liverpool is another city that sticks in my head. Being the home to one of the friendliest people in the world, Dave Mackey and home to some of the most attractive looking spots you could ever wish to stumble upon. The Sayers stair set is one spot that has imprinted itself in my head; this is all thanks to a certain Barney Page, whom most of you will know as a ridiculously talented skateboarder. Barney popped in a different direction to anyone else on this stair set, claiming one of the many NBD’s from the tour.

Manchester, Newcastle and Livingston are also three cities that have a lot to offer in terms of interesting and challenging skate spots and skateparks, particularly Livingston, home to the legendary skatepark that has seen more coverage than Ian Beale’s chip shop.

If I continue to babble on like this, I will have given away all of our spots from the tour, leaving you with the opportunity to completely destroy all of them and put our wood pushing to shame. Therefore, I feel that it is time to call it a day.

I hope this article has watered your taste buds and that you crave to see with your own eyes what I have described here. If the answer is yes, log onto the nearest Internet supply and visit www.sidewalkmag.com, then search for Shiner Big Push 2010, which should be viewable by the time you read this.  Enjoy!

Scooter kids

This website by Thom Bleasedale made me laugh. Go check it out.
http://www.scooter-rats.com

Here are a couple of images to give you the general idea.

Emersons Green Skatepark Opening Jam Video

OK, so I'm paying a lot of attention to this place at the moment, but I'm afraid that's inevitable, it's just down the road from me.

So here is the video edit by James Harris of the opening jam. Incredible. And, I managed to sneak in there amongst the actual good skaters somehow. Thanks James.



Emersons | Opening Jam from Maverick Skateparks on Vimeo.

Emersons Green Skatepark Opening Jam

The Jamie Clapp Memorial Skatepark - designed and built by Maverick Industries - was officially opened yesterday with an unveiling of the plaque, planting of commemorative tree by Gordon Clapp and a massive skate jam. The Maverick crew turned up with a sound system and a big bag of goodies to give away. Some rippers turned up for the day too, Jason Lewer and Chris Oliver in particular were killing it.

I was too busy to take any photos, but Sam from Maverick kindly let me have these for the blog. So here they are. Thanks Sam.

Chris Oliver - back tail revert round the taco

Chris Oliver - nose slizzer

Gordon Clapp unveiling the plaque commemorating his son

Chris Oliver - Wallie the whole damn pallet

Fakie Varial heel

Alex Decuhna - FS Smith

Jason Lewer - Front blunt

Tom Kinman - tre flizza

Some More Photos From Emersons Green Skatepark

Billy doing some flippy stuff

Dave with another boned melon

Dave again. Backside nollie. This ramp is higher and steeper then it looks here!

Don't know who this guy is, but he was killing it. This photo doesn't really do him justice.

Me bullshitting my way through a 180. Loki took this photo. 

Loki, performing the skateboard manoeuvre known as the ollie down the set.

Marcus - Boneless

Matt The Whale - nose slide, shoved out mind! Not too sure why the world has turned nearly upside down here.

Tom - Hurricane. Shit!

Fist Photo From Emersons Green Skatepark

Here is the first photo. I've got some more to put up in a bit, but I just wanted to get one up as soon as possible. First dibs go to Dave Curnock. Proper Emersons local, he was dedicated to the place when the skatepark was so rubbish the only reason anyone skated it was because they couldn't get anywhere else. Nice style mate!

Trademark boner ollie from Mr Curnock

To be honest, I've been too busy skating to stop and take photos.

Emersons Green Skatepark first footage!

Of course, the ever dependable and ubiquitous James Harris got some footage from the very first locals only session at the park.

Here it is, enjoy and drool!

Emersons Green skatepark

Well, the new park at Emersons has opened, and it's a beaut! This is literally 5 minutes skate from my house, and after waiting for what seems like so long, it doesn't even seem real now it's here.

After 6 days of solid skating, my body is telling me to stop, but how can I? It's beautiful! A piece of art from maverick.

It's so weird having rippers from the surrounding area turn up to session, after years of a really crappy park we've now got some of the Bristol shredders hanging out here.

The local boys are looking damn good on it too. Dave Curnock has got steez to spare, and Tyler Naish has got more lines then a BTEC art course.

Photo's soon!!!!!!!