| June 11, 2008 | ||
| 4:00 pm | to | 9:00 pm |
Yes. The Zoo York Team are hitting Manchester to kick off their European Tour next Wednesday so get yourself into the city centre!
They will be at the NOTE shop from 4.30pm signing your stuff, then they’re gonna Pump the Cage from 6pm.
Spread the word, but I don’t know where you’re gonna find cockroaches this size in Manchester:
| June 21, 2008 | ||
| 12:00 pm | to | 11:00 pm |
This year’s Go Skateboarding Day is fast approaching (it’s June 21st in case you didn’t know). And this year SkateMCR is planning to organise another protest skate at URBIS.
Last year it got rained off - see the SkateMCR video of last year’s Go Skateboarding Day below.
Go Skateboarding Day 2008 is set to be a big one in Manchester because the Vans team are coming here for the day! Their team includes Kris Vile, Danny Wainwright, Ross McGouran and local boy Ben Grove.
Their plan is to have a pump aroung the Projekts Skatepark from noon - 3pm, then sign stuff at the NOTE shop from 4 - 5pm, street skate from 5 - 8pm, then finish off with a Jam at Central Skatepark from 8pm onwards where there will be bands and some “special guests”!
The SkateMCR Protest will be at URBIS from 6pm - 8pm so the Vans team should be able to come and skate with everyone at the best spot in town. The protest will be about the byelaws which ban skateboarding in Manchester’s City Centre. See the byelaws here and sign the petition to get rid of them here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SkateMCR/
See the Vans website for more info. Here’s their poster:
And here’s the video from last year:
Document’s new mini-mag which is free and available form skateshops has a review of Manchester, both the City and the skate scene so get your copy right away! I think the article is also in the Document mag too.
On quick correction tot he article though: Although Projekts support SkateMCR and are trying to get an extension to the Pump Cage, is is SkateMCR who are “hounding council representatives, pushing for new parks and opposing the bylaws banning skateboarding in the city”… just so you know!
| March 8, 2008 | ||
| 11:00 am | to | 9:00 pm |
To celebrate International Womens Day, Projekts MCR is putting on a skate comp for the ladies only.
Sponsored by Nikita, Death, Landscape, Independent Trucks, Manchester City Council and Projekts MCR, there is £600 of cash prizes for sponsored skaters and plenty of products available for the non-sponsored lady rippers.
There will be a live DJ, female I presume, and beginners sessions in the morning from 11am - 2pm. Entrance is £3.
I totally missed this when it was in the paper nearly 2 weeks ago but it’s a good article covering many of the issues surrounding skateboarding in Manchester:
KEEN skateboarder ‘Chris’ travels more than 200 miles, all the way from Pontypridd in Wales to use the facilities Manchester has to offer.
Yet despite what appears to be a ringing endorsement of the city’s ability to attract skaters to its facilities, Chris and his fellow skaters still feel Manchester needs to `pull its finger out’.
“I reckon a skate plaza in the city centre would be great so we could street skate without all the hassle of being asked to leave,” says Chris, 23.
Byelaws prevent city centre skating and cover the big attraction for Mancunian street skaters - Cathedral Gardens, outside Urbis. Anyone found flouting the law receives a formal warning, and may be prosecuted.
Since these measures were introduced in 2001, more than 100 people have received verbal warnings and at least four have been taken to court, fined and ordered to pay costs.
The problem, though, can only get worse. Skateboarding has gone through a revival since 2000 and hundreds of skaters now flock to the city every weekend.
On one side of the debate, the skaters claim they’re starved of decent purpose-built facilities, but on the other, the council believes street skating is anti-social to shoppers and tourists, not to mention expensive as the council has to fork out to repair damage to street furniture.
Lure
Yet the lure of skateboarding stretches beyond the city centre, across the length and breadth of Greater Manchester. A new skatepark at Stamford Park, Altrincham, is in the offing after police, community leaders and councillors agreed it was sorely needed to help get young people off the streets and engaging in and creative energetic pastime.
Teenage skater Nick James believes provision of more facilities is long overdue. “Skaters in Manchester really need a skate plaza, something similar to Urbis, but designed especially for skaters,” says the 17-year-old.
“There aren’t enough facilities. The one under the Mancunian Way gets wet if it rains because there are no walls - it makes it unusable.”
That venue is council-funded, but Mick Regan, head of community activity at Manchester council, says the problem is keeping all parties happy.
“We have a lot of meetings where people have conflicting demands. We’re heavily involved in the Mancunian Way skatepark. Along with the financial assistance, we also run the positive futures program, helping disadvantaged kids get involved with sports, like skateboarding.”
The UK Skateboarding Association has raised concerns about the number and quality of the skateparks. Chairman Kevin Parrot believes there are too few indoor parks and the rest are badly constructed council parks.
Problem
Lack of suitable facilities shifts the problem back to the streets, where the skaters are drawn to places with the architecture and street furniture to hone their skills, such as steps, handrails and ramps.
But Cathedral Gardens is now out of bounds and two other favourite hangouts have also gone: the Gasworks is now under redevelopment, and the University of Manchester campus has introduced anti-skateboarding devices, like blister paving.
“I can understand why people prefer to street skate,” says Paul Harrison, owner of The World Famous Central Skatepark. “The idea of exploring and finding new spots is the whole point.
“But I also think it’s common sense that there are laws in place. I’m not saying people shouldn’t street skate, I’m just saying it’s unfair to try and demand that they’re allowed to damage other people’s property.”
But a rebellion is brewing. SkateMCR was set up by disgruntled Mancunian skaters, fed up with the restrictions and poor skating facilities in the city. They want the bans lifted and have even petitioned the Prime Minister’s website.
However, Steve Bass, who recently bought one of the region’s largest skateparks, believes the real way forward is through cooperation between skaters and local councils.
Steve’s UKskatepark in Stockport (formerly Bones) attracts around 200 people every Saturday. “Lot’s of outdoor parks in Manchester are built by the local councils, who tend to order ramps out of catalogues and then plonk them somewhere with no thought to their set up,” explains Steve.
“There’s only one other indoor park in the city, Central Skatepark, and if that gets too busy it’s almost unusable.”
The all-weather concrete platforms around Urbis mean it has found itself at the centre of the debate. But chief executive Vaughan Allen is keen to show they embrace the city’s skate culture. He said: “Urbis has adopted a proactive response to the problem by holding a number of skateboarding exhibits and events.”
The Projekts chaps have finally got their hands on £38,000 to install lights & electricity at the Pump Cage (the skatepark under the Mancunian Way)! The money is from the Youth Capital Fund and Manchester City Council.
They hope to have it all installed by Spring 2008 and look forward to all the things they will be able to do at the park from then on including music, late nights and heat!
Click here to check out the MEN article about the funding.
| September 15, 2007 | ||
| 1:00 pm | to | 7:00 pm |
Press Release: SKATEBOARDERS PROTEST AT GRAFFITI ARTISTS IMPRISONMENT
Skateboarders in Manchester have organised a Skate & Graff Jam to protest against the prison sentences received by Thomas Dolan, 20, and Thomas Whitaker, 18, on 28th August 2007.
The Skate Jam will take place on Saturday 15th September 2007 from 1pm at the Projekts Skatepark beneath the Mancunian Way in Manchester’s City Centre. Everybody is being invited to come down to skate, paint or chill.
Thomas Dolan, who’s graffiti tag name is “Krek”, was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment and Thomas Whitaker, who’s graffiti tag name is “Mers”, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment even though the judge described them as “talented” and “nice people”.
Thomas Dolan, also known as TJ, skateboarded regularly in Manchester’s City Centre and is well known amongst skaters. NOTE, the skateshop on Tib Street, has been selling out of T-shirts sold at cost-price with the words “Free Krek Free Mers” in Graffiti style lettering.
The campaign to free Krek and Mers has been hugely successful online. The Facebook.com group has over 100 photo’s of graffiti art by Krek and Mers and has nearly 1,400 members at the time of writing. The Myspace.com page has been flooded with dozens of comments in support of the Graffiti artists and shock at their prison sentences.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8440946757
http://www.myspace.com/hellokreky
Phil Heathcote, a friend of Thomas Dolan’s, has been leading the campaign. “We’re not saying that what they did wasn’t wrong or illegal - in fact they admitted so in court!” says Phil. “But with the prisons overcrowded and the MEN reporting on 15,000 criminals being let off with a caution, including rapists, we think that these prison sentences are way overboard and should be revoked immediately.”
Journalists, Photographers and Camera Crews are welcome to come along and cover the protest. For more information, contact Ben Gibbs (details above), NOTE Skateshop on 0161 839 7077, Phil Heathcote on 07709 794 355 or go to www.skatemcr.com
| August 27, 2007 | ||
| 12:00 pm | to | 6:00 pm |
The DGK Team is coming to Manchester as part of their Europe Summer Tour.
They’ll be spending time at the Projekts Shop on the 27th August, then hitting the Pump Cage on the 28th.
The DGK Team includes Stevie Williams, Marcus McBride, Wade Desarmo, Lenny Rivas and Jack Curtin.
Check the Tour’s MySpace page for more info.
Take a look at this great video, by Yujishimobay, of the ASBO Final Competition at Projekts Pump Cage.
Click here to see the winners of ASBO.
| August 1, 2007 | ||
| 12:00 pm | to | 6:00 pm |
The UK Hubba Wheels team will be starting their UK Team Tour this summer at the Pump Cage on the 1st of August.
Manchester’s Skate Collective… Spread the Word
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