I have been told reliably that the Cathedral side will not be fenced off so the new plan is to go and skate there from 6pm in tribute to Tony Wilson, a true pioneer in Manchester.
I’ll be using the £30 which SkateMCR has to create a banner saying something like “Skaters Love Tony Wilson”.
If you have a snappier idea for what the banner should say, leave a comment below!
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.
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:
Manchester Space Invaders, a local collective, is organising a weekend of events taking place on the 11-12th April in response to an international callout for celebration and defense of autonomous spaces and the alternative cultures they play host to.
What this basically means is that they are getting all manner of Manchester based groups together who feel increasingly marginalised from their own city to protest and party!
They say:
With sky-high rents, the creeping privatisation of public space, and a council willing to close down vital community services and simultaneously sell off swathes of the city centre to luxury property developers and retailers, there has seldom been a time when fighting for autonomous spaces in Manchester has been more important.
Manchester Space Invaders are a collective of autonomous groups and inidividuals working together to reclaim our city…they are mobilising to fight gentrification, ‘regeneration‘ and all the borders that exist within the city. They call for all groups, individuals, networks and families to get involved and to join in our glorious celebration of autonomous spaces.
The events will include a bike-parade, gigs, an open-air fair/park party, plenty of workshops (on topics as diverse as the legal and technical intricacies of squatting and the theory and practicalities of using the independent media), a demonstration and, of course, a free/squat party! Each will take place in such a way as to reclaim public space or celebrate spaces operating free from private ownership, corporate culture and state control. Click here for the line-up.
With the byelaws banning skateboarding, harassment from security guards and police alike, urban “furniture” designed to discourage skating and the recent struggle for SkateMCR funding etc, Manchester Space Invaders hope that the skating community might have some affinity with the motivation behind the events. Also, some of the events will be at URBIS.
I totally agree that these issues are at the core of the problems skaters have in Manchester. So let’s support this cause.
If you’re up for organising any skate related action on the 11th or 12th of April, let us know and we’ll help however we can!
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!
There were 3 main things we discussed at the SkateMCR Open Meeting on Monday evening. They were:
plans for a 6-month removal of the byelaw banning skateboarding from Cathedral Gardens outside URBIS,
plans for a Manchester International Skateboard Festival,
and raising the profile and getting more people involved with the aims and campaigning of SkateMCR.
6-month removal of byelaw at Cathedral Gardens
Following the Public Meeting at URBIS, I met with Vaughan Allen from URBIS and Gary Ellis from City Co. They suggested the best way to get the byelaws removed would be to propose a 6-month trial at Cathedral Gardens. After that 6 months, we will then have evidence and figures about how it was (hopefully) successful - the public were safe and enjoyed it, crime did not increase, etc. etc.
It was suggested in the Open Meeting that there should be signs around Cathedral Gardens (maybe in place of the “No Skateboarding” signs) alerting the public to the fact that this is a skate-able area.
We also talked about time restrictions. During the meeting with Vaughan and Gary, they said that URBIS, The Triangle and the Cathedral would all be supportive of this idea, but Chethams School of Music have some issues. Since the building is the school and halls of residence, they would probably not want skateboarding after 8pm so their students can rest and sleep.
Somebody suggested that they don’t think the students would actually mind and that we should do a short questionairre outside the school one afternoon to guage what the students reaction would be.
I said that the 6-month trial would probably take place over the summer next year, maybe from March to September. Others disagreed and thought that if the trial was over the winter, there would be less public around meaning potential for fewer accidents and a more likely chance that the trial would be successful.
I will continue putting the proposal together with Vaughan Allen from URBIS and giving feedback about it’s contents through this website. If you have any comments, let us know, or we can’t include them!
Manchester International Skateboard Festival
I suggested the idea that the festival be based on the Manchester Jazz Festival where there are multiple locations around the City Centres set-up for skateboarding over 1 weekend. For example, there could be some transitions at St. Ann’s Sq., a street area at Piccadilly, a Vert ramp out side the Town Hall, and URBIS could be skated. There would be a big finale, perhaps at URBIS.
Pro teams will be invited to come and skate at each venue at set times outlined in a schedule which will be available to the public. One of the aims of the festival is to educate the public about skateboarding and the skate scene in manchester - to show that skateboarding is creative and fun, and that skateboarders aren’t yobs wanting to destroy everything and do crime, but that the skate scene is very tight, friendly and inclusive.
The point was made that whenever it is arranged for, it should not conflict with other skate events or people from around the country will not come and join in.
Another idea is to run the festival over 1 week with skate films being shown at the Cornerhouse each evening and to have skate related art exhibitions at URBIS and other galleries around the City Centre.
Someone suggested using the big screen at the triangle to cover the skate events. Curbsurfers were suggested to get involved to organise that.
If you have any ideas or comments on these ideas, let us know by leaving a comment below!
Raising the profile and involvement of SkateMCR
The point was made that some of the people in the meeting didn’t know it was happening until that afternoon! People suggested making fliers for each meeting so more people know what’s going on. I said that it was all on the website, and it was pointed out that few people look at the website. So we will make fliers with the web address of this site for each thing we do from now on.
Someone suggested doing a Trick Of The Week feature on this website to attract more people to keep coming back. I said I also do a regular Podcast interviewing skaters in Manchester and that will hopefully draw more people to the website.
The idea emerged of organising something every month which everybody can get excited about. Ideas were games of SKATE, a relay race around the City Centre, a best line competition and a film competition. These things can be organised quite quickly but will raise the profile of SkateMCR.
Another idea was to organise coaches to take people to different skate parks / spots and particularly to national skate events like War Of The Roses.
Also, I will set-up a petition on the Governments website to remove the byelaws in Manchester. Hopefully that will get more skaters involved and raise the profile of SkateMCR too.
You are invited to come to the next SkateMCR Open Meeting at 7pm at the Projekts shop (36 - 40 Edge Street, Northern Quarter) on the 15th October.
We will be discussing plans for a 6 month removal of the byelaw banning skateboarding from Cathedral Gardens (aka URBIS). The idea bahind this is to prove to Manchester City Council and others that skateboarders can look after a space and that it is positive for the City.
Another thing on the agenda will be plans for Manchester International Skateboard Festival for summer 2008.
You can only hear what the current plans are and pitch in your ideas if you’re at the meeting, so make sure you come!
This Sunday afternoon (30th September) Fakie Rock is happening again at URBIS.
The workshop (from 1pm - 4pm) consists of designing graphics to go on the mini-ramp and recording sound samples to be played when you skate the mini-ramp. Then from 4pm - 6pm you get to skate the mini-ramp and trigger the noises you created earlier!
Take a look at this video we put together from the first Fakie Rock on Sunday 16th Sept:
More URBIS news… Over 4 Sundays in September and October 2007, the Juneau Projects artists will set-up a mini-ramp containing contact microphones in the URBIS foyer. The idea is that new sounds will be created as skaters skate the ramp.
The Sunday sessions will be run as workshops and will have a limited number of participants each time. Only those skateboarders in the workshops will be allowed to skate the mini-ramp after the workshops are done. The workshops will include designing images that will be painted and stencilled onto a mini-ramp and capturing, mixing and mashing up sound samples that go into the mini-ramp.
The workshop will happen from 1pm - 4pm with skating the mini-ramp from 4pm - 6pm on these dates:
URBIS has an exhibition of Skateboards designed by different artisits from around the world. Called “Among The Living”, the exhibition is on the wall between the shop and the foyer area.
The BBC Manchester website has written an article about the Public Meeting about Skateboarding which took place on Tuesday night - The Skate Debate.
It includes a Poll asking whether you agree skateboarders should be able to skate in the City Centre after 6pm, so click here and vote!
The article, written by Richard Turner, is positive and highlights the fact that Councillor Pat Karney and the City Council are thinking about relaxing the byelaws:
“The skateboarders made some reasonable points. For instance, they asked: ‘can we skate outside Urbis after 6pm in the evening?’ It’s an option we’re going to look at.”
Thanks to Drake for the heads up on the Tony Wilson Experience, a 24 hour event at Cathedral Gardens happening the same day as Go Skateboard Day.
I’ll be using the £30 which SkateMCR has to create a banner saying something like “Skaters Love Tony Wilson”.
Go Skateboarding Day 2008 is set to be a big one in Manchester because the 
What this basically means is that they are getting all manner of Manchester based groups together who feel increasingly marginalised from their own city to protest and party!
The events will include a bike-parade, gigs, an open-air fair/park party, plenty of workshops (on topics as diverse as the legal and technical intricacies of squatting and the theory and practicalities of using the independent media), a demonstration and, of course, a free/squat party! Each will take place in such a way as to reclaim public space or celebrate spaces operating free from private ownership, corporate culture and state control. 
![Skateboarder [pic: Gregoire Chabrol]](http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/images/2007/07/27/skate_debate_203_203x152.jpg)
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