It was supposed to be another epic day out for skaters of Sao Paulo in Brazil but it sadly a motorist decided to drive through the constant wave of skaters knocking them flying last Wednesday whilst the scene cruised through town in celebration. Thankfully no big casualties were reported but this could have certainly have left many skaters dead.
Apparently the imbecile driver of the black Ford, who fled the scene, has not yet been identified. Thoughts to everyone who had to endure this bullshit. #chooseskateboarding.
If you missed the news, BAYSIXTY6 skatepark is celebrating 20 years in the game this month, a huge feat for a park that hosted some of the best demos and events in the country and of course, sessions for thousands across those two decades.
This Wednesday evening between 6-10pm will see a special evening session that will reunite many of the park’s skaters who have shredded there from with free drinks and free entry. A gallery featuring some of the park’s finest moments will also be on show with photography from Chris Johnson, Marcel Veldman, Richie Hopson, Leo Sharp and many more.
Due to the recent tragic event that happened here in our community we will be fundraising for the Grenfell Tower victims, a ‘pay what you can’ bucket will be located on the door and our donations will be passed onto the relevant charities.
Please share this news with anyone who skated the park and we hope to see you at this special session reunion this Wednesday. Join the Facebook event page.
Photo: Stevie Thompson’s backside shot by Philip Procter
Last weekend’s Community BBQ at Meanwhile Gardens was soaked in baking hot sunshine, cold ones and a top BBQ thanks to Phil Williams. Theo Simondetti was there with a camera to pick up some clips so enjoy his footage from this great spot with footage of Stevie Thompson, Awadh Mohammed and many more locals. May it achieve the funding and support it needs to be developed for the next generation.
Big shout out to Phil Procter who organised a lot of stuff down there and also Stephen Ley and friends who spent a lot of sweat on filling in the cracks on the 3 levels to make it a much smoother ride. Go visit it at 27-31 Elkstone Rd and pay the local Portugeuse dudes a visit over the road if you need a cold one or a dope sardine BBQ.
This is like a dream coming true right before our very eyes. LLSB have sat down with the Southbank Centre and negotiated a target cost to restore the original banks and skate-able areas that were once occupied by a Beano store and now builders workshops. Obviously this comes at a whopping cost of £790,000 but is that doable? Anything is possible if we want it bad enough, right?
The other good news from this is that this area will also see the creation of a new space for children and young people to engage in learning and creative activities organised by Southbank Centre.
Hopefully this can be done without monetary assistance from multi-national corperations that have bulldozed skateboarding’s rich history in the last decade. With that huge task in mind, how can we raise over three quarters of a million pounds to restore the space where most of us carved out our first kick-turns? This part of the Southbank has not been skated since 2004 so there will be thousands of skaters hungry to see this new move happen. Please spread the word by sharing this and let’s get some ideas started.
Please send us your ideas too, here. We will return to this with some deeper thoughts once we have some time to digest the news as this is fresh off the bat, but congrats to the LLSB who certainly don’t give up the chase but have joined forces with those at the Southbank Centre to agree to this potential new project. They now need your support and that starts here at their donation URL: llsbdonate.com
To whet your appetite, here’s a tasty edit of a line through SB history with London Posse on the mic.
‘Subvert’ from RAD Magazine’s Tim Leighton-Boyce features Geoff Rowley alongside various other heads at Southbank in the late 80s.
I’m a firm supporter that Southbank should be as big as it was back in the day when we all learned kickturns and much more there as teenagers. Just watch this footage to see what we could still have – it’s all still there, well, most of it.
Sometimes I prefer the making of an edit more than the final product. Tony Trujillo’s Spitfire x Antihero part was rad so get a look into what went into with this new raw ting.
‘Subvert’ from RAD Magazine’s Tim Leighton-Boyce features Geoff Rowley alongside various other heads at Southbank in the late 80s. 