Brief history: Gary Holder

Started skating in 1976, xmas day when my parents gave me my first board - a yellow plastic California Free Former with clear wheels - and I still have it! We had a local skate park in Clarence Road, Horsham West Sussex with no facilities, just a tarmac parking lot that we could skate on.

Next summer, in 1977, due to the number of skaters in my village, St Andrew's School playground was opened to skaters at weekends and holidays. One kid's Dad was a builder and he built us a ramp from chipboard, 4x2 and
coachbolts. This had to be delivered in a pick up truck, then assembled and disassembled every session. The only other thing we had there was a high jump stand made by my uncle Bob, who also used to supply carpet offcuts that my Mum would make into knee pads!

We loved what we had in that playground and developed some great skills, which some of us took and used in another fairly local skatepark - The Barn in Southwick. We had all seen pictures of people skating on vertical
surfaces and wondered whether it was really possible, or just trick photography. Our chance had come to find out.

My Dad would bundle a bunch of us kids and boards into his mini 850 & drive us the 15 or so miles to Southwick most weekends.

The Barn consisted of a reservoir, a rough concrete bowl and a smooth, very deep pool with a lot of vertical wall. Under cover, in the Barn itself, was an enormous half pipe, probably somewhere around 15 feet high.

During 1978/9, we watched and learnt from other, far more skilful skaters, who were not only riding vertical, but were axle grinding on the coping, doing aerials out of the top of the pool & drop-ins over the edge, down the
vertical face.

I skated this park until closure in about 1981. By this time, I was also a vert skater!

My board was an ALVA 10" Tracker full tracks, red Kryptonics. Still have it.

My saddest moment was to find the skatepark gates chained & padlocked one morning....... I stopped skating.

My greatest moment was when OLD SKOOL met NEW!!!