STEVIES (Martin) TALES FROM THE NEW CITY

I'm sure my tales of "Ye Olde Skool" days aren't unique, but I'm gonna tell them anyway!

The first time I saw a skateboard was the summer of 76. It was some dodgy programme called "Summertime Special" or something similar. They'd wheel out tacky cabaret artistes, & do a feature on the resort. Can't remember where it was, but they announced a new craze about to hit our shores from America… Skateboarding! Having been battered, bruised, barred from class, & bored with clackers, the TV had my full attention. Eyes a popping, I witnessed a bunch of guys speeding down tiny twisty tarmac paths amongst the Rhododendrons… Unbelievable! Next day I rushed out to Neals toyshop in Bletchley to look for one of those wheeled boards. Total amazement, they had two! A Surf Flyer & a Lotus. The Surf Flyer had weird black rubber wheels, non-adjustable trucks, & rubber stopper on the back. The lotus looked cool, a polyprop with urethane wheels & tiny trucks you could adjust, but it was a bit more expensive. My thrifty upbringing urged me to buy the Surf Flyer.

Board in hand I ran up to the local precinct, The Brunel Centre, which had a really smooth, steep subway…. Perfect!

I cautiously positioned my board about ten feet up from the bottom, stood on it & hoped for the best. The next thing I knew, I was flat out on the floor with a broken truck, lump on my head, & twisted ankle. Limping home, apart from the pain, I couldn't help thinking that I'd have been better off with the Lotus. Next day, back to Neals, back to the subway Lotus proudly under my arm. Got it wired in no time. My best buddy Pilch followed suit, & within weeks skateboarding had spread like a disease through the town.

Having had a few weeks practice ahead of the rest, Pilch & I were dazzling people with our prowess. Tic tacs, toe down wheelies (went through a pair of Dunlop Green Flash every week!), catamarans, belly busters, coffins etc… we were flying! The Brunel centre became a mecca for Bletchley skaters. Tiny wheeled people whizzing everywhere, it was chaos. Handstands, Elbowstands, Daffy Ducks, Space Walks, et al. It generally ended up in a demolition derby following mass speed wobble attacks… excellent! When those little boards wobbled, they really wobbled!

The next turning point was on a day trip to Bournemouth. Scooting along the prom I heard a familiar clacking sound. I pushed through a huge crowd of spectators to find a cordoned off area full of skaters with something I'd never even dreamt of. A sheet of 8x4 plywood wedged up on a barrier at a 40degree angle… an amazing new dimension! I watched for ages before plucking up the courage to have a go. It was my turn. I hurtled towards the makeshift ramp, next thing I know I'm flat on my back… again! Undeterred, I carried on and before long I'd mastered the 180 on a ramp. Made up, I went back to Milton Keynes with tales of my plywood epiphany!

We found a seemingly tailor made trolley ramp round the back of Sainsbury's, approx 5ft long, 2ft high & 2ft wide, & carted it off to the car park. This became a nightly ritual & we sessioned it sooo hard! With the help of a few pallets the 25degree ramp eventually became 65! We began hunting & shredding banks all over MK. The best were the red brick flat banks on the Lakes Estate, conveniently placed either side of a footpath to make a halfpipe type thing with a flat lip.

By now the first concrete was being poured around the UK & Skate City was opening. The next stage was about to begin.

I will NEVER forget my first trip to Skate City.

We went down the first week it opened. Pilch & I wracked with faintingly strong excitement, stood in a never-ending cue with clammy hands & farting nervously (this became a ritual that went on for years… ten minutes before arriving at any park the car/bus/train would stink). We paid our money & went through the turnstile. St Peter had let us through the gates! Hundreds upon hundreds of skaters in yellow cooper helmets & oversized badges, seemingly floating down concrete runs to piped music, Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene. Absolutely mind blowing having never heard or seen anything like this before! By the end of the day we were ragged, but had the best time ever. We'd discovered bowl carving & seen what else was possible thanks to some of the early skate legends. Thank you Mr Sabloski!

In the blink of an eye, Skateboarding had gone ballistic! Parks, TV progs, mags, even royalty was at it! I'm talking about Farrah Fawcet of course. Well, something had to exist before Kylie!

MK had no skatepark (still hasn't but we're working in it!), but pretty soon there were parks fairly close. The California Ballrooms in Dunstable had indoor wooden ramps & the first halfpipe we'd ever ridden, so fakeys were next on the trick list. Unfortunately, they didn't get the outdoor park quite right. In fact, it was shite! Like they'd seen pics but got the scale all wrong. The opening day had "Marshals" testing people on the runs. Don't think many got their badges. Skaters splattered everywhere. Not because they couldn't skate, but because the park was a death trap! Not the last skatepark nightmare experienced over the years.

Summer of 77 I went on a surfing holiday in Cornwall. Didn't get the hang of surfing, but had a blast at the local skatepark, Hollywell Bay. Made friends with some guys from oooop North & been friends with one of them ever since. That'll be Kev, or Devile Devilius as he was known at the time!

Every weekend the MK crew would trundle off to our favourite haunts. Harrow, Knebworth, Wickstead, & Hemel Hempstead. Hemel was our most frequented park at that time. Built by skatepark construction, it had their trademark capsule halfpipe, reservoir, mogul bowls & blue tiled pool. We were so dedicated at the time that we'd turn up & wait for the sun to melt the ice. As each hour passed we could skate another bowl. I think its now buried under a dry ski slope… Fancy hiring a JCB?

My all time favourite park was Rolling Thunder. It was unique, indoors & fucking vast! I was totally devastated when it closed. I took no pictures of that place & really regret it. I didn't believe there could be a run that looped back under itself , then I saw it for real! I remember Jeremy Henderson dropping into the tiny fucked up halfpipe on the backside of this run. It must have been five 5ft of vert into a 4ft trannie with no flat bottom & no audience! Sick! The flat bottomed "Pole Bowl" was unwittingly advanced for its time. The halfpipe was huge, with two vert "bollock" bowls off it that no one bothered with coz there was so much else to skate. Must admit, they were a bit lumpy. (Lumpy bollocks… See a doctor!). I spent hours doing forevers in the Figure 8 Pool Bowl. But I had the best time in the square halfpipe thing that went round the cloverleaf. Shooting round that with a few skaters was a total stoker, a never-ending snake run. Were they really train carriages stuck up on the walls as the Café, shops, smoking den's or is my memory just damaged? There was a hardcore vibe there for sure, but the slab banked freestyle area was mugging free, unlike the South Bank. I was mugged at the South Bank for my Lime Green Kryps fresh from Alpine Sports. My assailants obviously didn't get the durometer they wanted as they chucked them in the Thames! What a waste! Thanks to Slim for taking a thump trying to stop them.

Got sidetracked from skating in 1980, most of the parks had been dozed, & sex, drugs, & futurism had taken hold!

In 86, after my self-rehab, I realized that something apart from the drugs was missing, skating. I'd moved to Northants, & Wickstead was on my doorstep. Saw a board in a shop window, & cautiously walked in thinking "Maybe I'm too old for this" (HA!). Got chatting to the chap in charge… turned out to be Ally Barr. I bought a dreadful Variflex complete (thanks Ally!) & went off to Wickies. Not the best park to be built but I was glad it was still there. I used to hook up there with some chaps from Stamford, great guys. If anyone knows where Clive(Mohawk) or Chris(scarey punk skin) is, please let me know.

I soon got back in touch with my old MK skate buddies, Muppet, Potter, Pilch & Phil Chapman. Phil told me about a huge concrete ditch in MK, so off we went. Skating had really changed. Phil's skating was sick! I'd never seen a boneless or ollie, & Phils 20ft long legs enabled him to clear huge distances in the ditch… awesome! I felt somehow stuck in the 70's skatewise (still am!), & knew I'd never be able to get that good, but had countless sessions ripping the gnarly monster. After a few trips to Mon's ramp in Banbury, I knew it was time to get Kev involved again. He got the nod! We had some great sessions on what was left of the UK 'crete down south, Romford, Knebworth, Stevenage, Wickies (bless it)

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I took off to France in 89 but didn't find much to skate (see Skatemares section), moved back to London & apart from one off sessions at Kennington, Stockwell, Cantelowes, & Meanwhile, sex, drugs & techno took hold!

Moved back to MK & the skatemares started in 98.

Walking across a field, you spot a perfect pool, only to find that when you get there it's the size of a soup bowl. You're still convinced you can ride it. Not!

You're in a precinct & there are huge marblite bowls everywhere, you pump the transition only to find it's made of putty like substance.

You look in the back garden & Marina Del Ray has mysteriously materialised, but you're naked & cant find your board and your aunties all turn up singing Abba, with Rector shorts & glittered Norcon helmets on… OK, enough already!

Do you know what I mean???? If so, do like I did, realize its time to dust off the board & satisfy the cravings.

Kev got the nod again in 99 & we were back on our boards. Sketchy as hell but we had a laugh! I met Carl & Tim through the Internet, put them in touch with Kev. I bumped into Andrew Huggins (a sk8 bud from the first wave) in 2002, & between us we've been gathering ranks ever since. I don't have time to skate often & I'm never gonna that good, or even pull an impressive ollie. But I do occasionally pull a mean hang ten nose wheelie, a few 360's (my record was 28), & get the odd frontdside grind. If I improve to my old standard… cool. If not… what the fuck! I just love to feel my old skool vans on a bit of griptape, carving a bit of 'crete, having a laugh with likeminded souls, followed by beer & some tunes.

If you feel the same, you've come to the right place! Stop beating yourself up & get on your board! There's an ever-growing network of us ready to hook up when we can get the time.

I know that this year is gonna see a lot of old dudes back on their boards, at what ever level. I hope that between us on this site, we had a small part in that. We're just helpless old skool evangelists… so get worshipping!!