SkateMCR is running the Skate Area and we’ve got a 4ft high, 15 foot wide mini-ramp for you to enjoy!
With live music from Arthur Brown (performing Fire), Mr Scruff, The Unabombers and Broke n English (among others), Sunday promises to be a great day …weather permitting!
We’re gonna have a competition with highest Ollie, highest air on the mini-ramp, most amount of kickflips in one go and other stuff with Element Skateboards providing lots of goodies for you to win.
We will also be projecting skate videos including “Workers and Lurkers”, “Kipp It Off”, “Leisure” and others - keeping it Manchester focussed.
Document Magazine have published a 4-page spread devoted to ASBO in Manchester. It’s got some awesome photo’s of Ben Grove’s backside 180 down the URBIS 3 set and of Woody’s 360 off the platform at Central Skatepark. Buy it from your local skateshop - issue 68, June 2007.
The article is so affirming of what we are trying to do here in the skatescene in Manchester, I get excited every time I read it! Thanks muchly Percy! Here is the article:
“Raising awareness”, it’s a oversued phrase synonymous with skateboarding and basically anything that needs help to further itself through mediums that are out of it’s immediate control. Not so much a cry for help more a call to arms. Form a group, motivate yourselves and get something done, make people notice!
The ASBO Ashes event series held on 4 consecutive Sundays in April was all about shaking things up.
Organised by the Manchester Action group SkateMCR which opposes all the byelaws prohibiting skateboarding in the city by attending public meetings, petitioning and actually dealing with the council as opposed to sitting back and whinging. They demand that the council of Manchester consult with them before building skateparks to prevent any bullshit constructions and they constantly lobby for the provision of a much needed skateplaza.
I know it’s a big job and one that the erratic concentration span of a skateboarder is not best suited too but it’s a job that needs doing in every city in this country. That is how we kick the cowboys out of the skatepark construction industry, that is how we get parks we need, want and will use!
Ben Gibbs heads this thankless task and runs SkateMCR, updates the site www.skatemcr.com and organised (along with the help of the four skateboard establishments in the city) The ASBO Ashes series.
Projekts Skatepark, Note Store, Cast Skateboard Shop and The World Famous Central Skatepark all bro’ed down together and held events over the four Sundays, Jam’s at all the parks (and Cast’s mini) and a street take over that included catamaran races, a race from one side of the city to the other and a best trick at various spots. It is rare that all corners of any given cities scene will tolerate each other, never mind work together.
Over the 4 Sundays 3 man teams formed and skated the parks and city of Manchester. It was a good thing.
Hopefully sometime soon each city in this country will have the notion to form a group as pro-active about skateboarding as SkateMCR. Groups that actually talk less and do more!
Maybe then we can put an end to any more travesties of justice that purport to be “For Skateboarding” on our island.
French, artist and skater, will be opening a show of his art work at the Projekts skate shop in Manchester on Friday 1st June.
Check French’s blog to discover his style. According to Vic who has organised the show: “French has a mean layback front rock and has done graphics for loads of skate companies including Heroin, Creature, Lovenskate, Emerica and Harmony.”
The opening night of his show will be on Friday 1st June, 7 - 9pm, at the Projekts shop (34-40 Edge Street, Norther Quarter, Manchester) and the show will last until 30th July.
SkateMCR are getting involved with the Burnt To The Ground Festival happening on 3rd June at Stevenson Square in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Burnt To The Ground is a fund-raising festival to help those who suffered because of the Dale Street Fire a few weeks ago.
We are organising a skate area for Manchester’s skateboarders with competitions and prizes throughout the day. Make sure you get to the Festival to join in!
Here is the official blurb about the festival:
MANCHESTER’S CREATIVE BUSINESSES RISE FROM THE ASHES
Burnt to the Ground (Burn Baby Burn, Disco Inferno), Sunday, June 3, is an impromptu live music event in the Northern Quarter’s Stevenson Square – Manchester’s positive reaction to the devastation of the Dale Street fire.
Manchester events agency, Ear the to the Ground, is organising the 5000 capacity street party which features Manchester’s creative talent at its finest – combining music and art to bring the community together to dance in the face of adversity.
More than just a music event, Burnt to the Ground will provide a collective space for creatives and businesses in the Northern Quarter to trade, perform and generally show off the diversity of their talents. Dj’s will play from fire engines with live acts on a purpose built, fire themed stage in the heart of the Northern Quarter. In addition there will also be a strong presence from the fire brigade who will have two crews and two engines within the arena.
As demonstrated by this event, Manchester’s Northern Quarter houses the core of the city’s creative industry; the businesses that ensure that Manchester is firmly on the map as one of the most important cultural hubs in the UK.
Steve Smith, Director of Ear to the Ground, one of the businesses affected by the fire and organiser of the Burnt to the Ground comments: “Our insurance covers the damage but the cost to the company in terms of disruption is massive. We just thought the best response was to do what this city does best. Have a party.”
All proceeds from the event will be given directly to charity and distributed among local businesses that have suffered.. One of the recipients will be the Manchester Fire Service that dispatched more than 120 fire fighters to work tirelessly through the night to stop the blaze.
The cost of staging the event has been made possible by contributions from Ear to the Ground, property developer Argent, Manchester City Council and Marketing Manchester.
ASBO, the April Skate Bonanze Ohyeah, generated alot of media interest. Obviously the “hot button” name of the competition did us some favours and most of the media attention was really positive. Take a look:
ChannelM
This first Video is the interview with Felix Tiller (owner of the CAST shop) and Ben Gibbs (me!) about ASBO, broadcast on 4th April 2007.
This next video is the article ChannelM did of the NOTE ASBO street competition, broadcast on 16th April 2007.
Manchester Evening News
The MEN printed this article after the first ASBO competition at Central Skatepark. It contained a response from Councillor Pat Karney which I then followed up with a letter which was printed in the Postbag page of the MEN a few days later.
The incredible spring weather we’ve enjoyed up norf this week has definitely been enjoyed by one group – the city’s skaters. There’s a very active skateboarding scene in Manchester, and the SkateMCR blog has it covered.
Crossfire
The “Caught In The Crossfire” Skatezine covered ASBO and praised the design of the fliers which made me happy - I worked hard on that design!
Sk8Uk
The Sk8Uk webiste covered ASBO in their news section.
SkateMCR is a Collective, consisting of anyone and everyone who believes in our aims and wants to be involved. So we need your support.
Come along to our next Open Meeting - anybody can come along and chat about the issues facing skaters in Manchester and therefore shape the direction of SkateMCR. We will meet upstairs at the Projekts Shop.
This time we will review ASBO - what was good and bad about it - and talk about how it could be improved for next year. We will also come up with ideas about the International Go Skateboarding Day on 21st June.
Come along - to entice you there will be some crisps and biscuits - Yummy!
Big thanks to Andrew Wilshere aka Newfred who just bought us a Pro account at Flickr.com. This means we’re not limited to just having 200 photo’s on our account. In fact, we currently have 248 photos which have been viewed nearly 1,000 times!
Our Flickr Group has been renamed from “SkateMCR” to “Skating Manchester” - it describes what the group is about much better! This is the group to upload all you photo’s of skating around Manchester onto, take a look!
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