Be it a handrail, a stair-set, a concrete ledge or a raised curb, each mundane piece of urban architecture is a blank canvas waiting to be painted with kick flips, nose slides, backside 180s and more.

Practising his repertoire of tricks in Preston’s Peace Gardens one Saturday afternoon is Liam Cronin.

“About three years ago I saw people skating and I thought: ‘I like that style’,” says Liam, 17, from Preston.

“I was rubbish when I started but I knew I could get there if I practised.”

He points to a red cone in some nearby road works and says he would like to make a ramp out of it.

“On the street we have to make things useful. We cat get a cone and ollie over it or we can manual on a ledge. It’s really creative.”

Liam’s adoption of skateboarding as a lifestyle - involving fashion, music taste and laid back attitude - sets him apart from passing shoppers. The palpable division between skateboarders and the non-skating public has caused conflicts with nearby businesses.

Opposite the Peace Gardens, the manager of Bar Censa complains about crowds gathering outside his shop. Round the corner next to the workers memorial, John Banks, manager of George Banks Jewellers in Lune Street, has complained to the Police and wrote several letters to Preston City Council about skateboarders being a danger to his customers.

“It’s very disturbing when the skateboarders are out here,” says Mr Banks.

“They’ve got no control over the boards. Quite often a board will fly off and bang into the front of our window.”

Mr Banks says he has worked with the Police for more than a year to have ‘no skateboarding’ signs installed outside his shop without success.

“Six months since I last spoke to the Police they haven’t got back to me,” he said.

“I have heard people say how amazed they are that pensioners haven’t been hit by a board in their ankles. That’s the worst of it and the skaters and Goths are very noisy.”

Around a hundred yards from Mr Banks’ jewellers is Scene, Preston’s only skateboard shop. The two resemble opposing battle camps separated by the heaving Ringway- hundreds of fun loving kids at one, middle class respectability at the other. Ironically they both want the same thing - somewhere for skaters to go.

“We’re sat in here with kids coming in and we don’t know what to say whey they ask ‘where’s the skatepark,’ says Fill Jackson, manager of Preston Skatepark Project.
“It’s heartbreaking when they’ve just brought their new skateboard and then they have not got anywhere to go.”

Jackson is a distinct figure. Although only 32, he walks slowly with a walking stick to aid a severe limp – the legacy of a skateboarding injury he suffered six years ago.
Perhaps not being able to skate has made him channel his energy into campaigning.

Jackson’s memory of the skatepark project since it started eight years ago is astonishing. From being promised a 400,000 dream park in 2006 to now: bitter, frustrated, angry and loosing hope, he remembers everything.

“It’s cost us £4,500 over five years. That’s complete running costs with absolutely everything. That’s petrol and time off work. That’s designs we have done for the council and booklets we made explaining what skateboarding is,” he says.

“I know all this because we have recorded every last penny, every last bit of paperwork.”

Jackson peppers the conversation with facts, figures and analogies. Some are obscure, some are striking.

“The main thing that annoys us is that they built a BMX track. There are only sixteen people in Preston that race BMXs and they are all from the same club. It’s a sport that barely exists anymore.

“There are about 1,300 skaters in Preston. They’re are all different kinds of people from kids just starting out to older generations that used to skate and still go out occasionally.

“If we had to actually add up the numbers we’d be a little bit scared at how many there are!

“I get irate when I see what the council are doing or more to the point when I see what they’re not doing. I get even more irate when I see I’m paying for it.”

Preston’s new city status in 2000 coincided with a government directive encouraging local councils to provide skateboarding facilities. Brighton became a city three years before Preston and now has two large skateparks. This makes Preston the last major city in the country without a skatepark.

Jimmy Khan, Head of Sport and Recreation at Preston City Council said it is not a good title for the city. He said: “We’re liaising with the group and we’re one hundred percent supportive of the proposals put forward.

“The difficulty is finding the money for funding and a suitable piece of land. We have had two or three false alarms when people have come forward with funding then backed out.

“Every time we get a sign of hop it’s pulled from under us. What we don’t want to do now is get people’s hopes up.”

One fear the Council may have about investing in expensive skateparks is that the sport is just a passing trend.

But the sport’s journey from 1930s California when children attached rollerskates to pieces of wood to today’s billion dollar industry, suggests it is here to stay. Jackson is quick to emphasise this.

“It’s winter and few outdoor sports exist during these plunging temperatures. No BMXers riding to work, the odd mountain bike and I’ve not seen anybody on rollerblades for years now – but day in day out, early or late, rain or shine, the skateboarders are still rolling around.”

By Ricki Dewsbury

But before anybody starts, it helps to know a few tricks and some of the jargon - just so you fit in on your first trip to the local skatepark!

This video with Jack Metcalfe, a sponsored skateboarder from Interact skatepark in Burnley, will give you a few tips on basic tricks: the ollie; the kickflip; a backside 180 (try not to land on your backside!) and the fifty-fifty grind. If you’re baffled by any words, check out the A-Z below.

The A-Z of Skateboarding

A - Air. Any time a skateboarder launches from a ramp into the air is called “getting air.”  

B - Bail. Jumping off the board through fear of injury.

C - Coping. Metal bar joining the curved part of a ramp to the decking. Tricks can be performed on the coping.

D - Deck . The large wooden part of the skateboard that people stand on.

Decking. The highest part of ramps where people stand before dropping in.

Dropping in. Rolling down a ramp from the decking.

E - Element. Skateboarding brand that sponsors Bam Margera, the star of MTV’s programme, Jackass.

F - Flip. Any trick where the board rotates on a horizontal axis. For example, a kickflip, heelflip, 360 flip, varial flip.

G - Grind. Moving along a rail or ledge with all the wheels off the ground and the weight on the trucks.

Grip tape. The rough part of the top of the board intended to increase friction with skaters’ shoes to help them perform tricks.

Goofy. Refers to those who skate right foot forward.

H - Horse. Skateboarding game where those who do not land a set trick are punished with by being given a letter. The first to spell horse looses.

I - Impossible. Trick invented by the famous skateboarder Rodney Mullen. The board rotates on a vertical axis instead of the usual horizontal.

J - Jam. Skateboard equivalent of a musical “jam.” A large group of skaters gather in a park and encourage each other to do their best tricks.

K- Krooked. A grind where the weight is put over the front truck and twisted at an angle.

L - Land. Successfully completing a trick is called landing it.

M - Mini ramp. Smaller version of a vert ramp that is between four and seven feet high. The sides are not vertical.

N - Nose. The tip of the board. This is slightly steeper than the tail in order to help perform tricks.

O - Ollie. The essential building block of most skateboarding tricks, it was invented by Alan “Ollie” Gelfand in the 1970s.

P- Pop. Popping a board describes pushing down on the tail and propelling it upwards. Also refers to how springy a skateboard is.

Q - Quarter pipe. A curved ramp used for tricks. Half of a half pipe.

R - Regular. Refers to those who skate left foot forward.

S - Slam. Falling very hard when trying to perform a trick.

Switch. Skating in the opposite stance to one’s natural preference. For example, a goofy skater standing in the regular, or a regular skater in the goofy position.

Snake - To begin using a ramp while another skater is still on it.

T - Tony Hawk - World famous skateboarder who popularised the “Tony Hawks Pro Skater” video games.

Tail. The slightly less steep end of the board that the back foot is rested on. 

Transition. The curved part of a ramp.

Trucks. The metal bars which link the wheels to the wooden board. Trucks are used for grinding and turning.

U - Underground. Refers to a very good skater who is not well known.

V - Vert. A large ramp between 10 and sixteen feet that is vertical on either side. Also known as a half -pipe. Not to be confused with a mini ramp.

W - Wax - Applied to ledges and rails to make them slippery enough to grind on.

X-Games. International skateboarding competition held each year at Camp Woodward in Pennsylvania, America.

Y - “Yeah!” Celebratory expression called out by other skaters when a trick is landed.

Z - Z- Boys. Old school team of skateboarders formed in 70s California. Stars of the documentary “Dog Town and Z-boys.”

*Image from Dailymail.co.uk

But skateboarding is also a multi billion pound industry encompassing fashion, music, clothes, films, video games, skateboarding products and more.

Ramp City WSA, in Blackpool shows how business skills can profit from skateboard skills.

Owner Mick Houghton acquired an empty warehouse when he moved into Cropper Road with a travelling family. After starting an equestrian centre, model car racing track and roller hockey arena it became a skatepark.

Despite a capricious history, the building looks set to remain a skatepark for as long as it is profitable.

INTERVIEW 

Reporter: How long has your skatepark park been open?
Mick Houghton: We opened the park five years ago.

Why did you open it?
We had tried other things in the past but we knew that there were a lot of skateboarders who needed somewhere to go. We knew that this would make money.

What did you do to open it?
All we did was put in ramps. We owned the building so it was that simple. It used to be a roller hockey rink but it was not working. There was nothing on the floor so one week we put the ramps in.

How much did it cost?
It cost us £60,000 for the ramps. Then we have spent £40,000 on maintenance to keep it going. To build one from scratch now it would be another fifty percent on top of what it was five years ago.

How much money do you make?
It took us two years before we made a profit. Take into account we own the building so we don’t pay rent. But I can’t say how much it makes.

Preston skateboarders are trying to get a park built…
Why should I do anything that helps the Preston lot to get a skatepark when 25% of my customers come here from Preston? There’s no logic there. That doesn’t make sense does it?

How do you go about building a skatepark?
You need a building; what’s more, you need a building that’s a minimum of two hundred square feet. Then you need insurance and you won’t get any under a £100,000. There’s only one insurance company in the country that will insure skateparks. Then rent is expensive and the rates are high. Then you pay rent and heating and then you need lighting. Unless you have got some rich people you are just not going to do it. The council won’t do it because it will be too expensive. They build ramps outside but no body goes to them because they’re cheap rubbish. The council will not spend £400,000 and that’s what you need.

Have you worked with the council?
Do you know how much the council have put into this place? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But they have built two other ramps which nobody even uses.

How does your facility benefit the local skaters?
The kids can come here because its dry, it’s warm and it’s safe. They’re not going to go to a ramp outside when it’s wet. It costs five quid to come in here for the night and they have fun.

The skaters…

Tom Bass, 20, Blackpool.
I’ve been skateboarding for ten years. My mates keep me going. I just love skateboarding, my dad was a skater, and all my mates are. I just love it to bits. It’s an amazing park, really is so good. It can be a bit annoying in the winter when it gets slippery, but apart from that it’s an absolutely amazing park, I enjoy it so much. I’ve been coming here since it opened. I come down near enough every single night. When I’m not working I’m here.

Colin Johnson, 17, Blackpool
I come about three or four times a week. It’s just basically my hobby that I do, really. The park is very important because the next closest one is Liverpool or Burnley so other than this place we’d have to go quite far to get somewhere. I go into competitions so when I’ve finished school I’d like to have a proper job in BMX.

By Ricki Dewsbury

Sirens are heard each night as another person is killed, or another building burned down.

The Bronx and Brooklyn districts of “the big apple” are slums for Black and Hispanic minorities.

Yet from this deprivation is born today’s biggest selling music genre: Hip Hop.

Fast forward more than thirty years and the break-beat style of music, the fashion and the graffiti artists (Banksy’s forefathers) that flourished amidst economic ruin are a massive part of the international skateboarding culture.

But how did it happen? “The actual sport itself got big enough to attract people to it other than punks,” says Dan White- or MC Medasin Man. “It was coming up from California, coming up from the surfing community which is where it originated, into the other inner city areas.”

Wearing baggy jeans, hoody, gold chain and oversize head phones, White, 23, is the stereotypical hip hop style skateboarder. In-between skating each day he records tracks and performs at open mic nights.

“New York was where skateboarding and Hip Hop came together for the first time. It started with DJ’s doing open air shows in parks with skaters rolling by on their plastic banana boards.

“If you watch skateboarding videos like ZooYork Mixtape, in the 90s the skaters were skating during the day then hanging out in recording studios and radio stations at night with people like Busta Rhymes,” he says.

Medasin Man’s music

Zoo York: The mix tape was one of the first skateboarding videos that used Hip Hop as a soundtrack throughout the whole video. Made in 90s New York, it demonstrated the ever growing culture ties between skateboarding and hip hop.

“I think hip hop doesn’t necessarily go well with all skaters but it goes well with that particular skater.

“If you put hip hop songs with a skater who is really a hard and aggressive like Tony Trujillo it doesn’t look right, but if you look at someone who is hip hop orientated, the ways that they skate and the way they behave that’s what goes together.

“Hip hop skaters are never really ramp skaters. There not chucking themselves way up in the air doing massive tricks. Most are street skaters doing technical tricks on ledges.”

White’s observations on the links between Hip Hop and skateboarding are impressive - and accurate. Take a visit to your local skateboard shop and the chances are they are playing Hip Hop in the background. It is a relationship that looks set to continue into the coming years. 

*Image from BBC documentary Once Upon A Time in New York

Members of Preston Skatepark Project fear that Preston City Council has forgotten about their bid to build a massive venue for the skateboarders to practice.

Despite being promised a £400,000 dream park in 2006 the group, who represent 600 of the city’s skaters, claim they have not been contacted since.

Youngsters using the Peace Gardens and the Workers Memorial in Preston city centre to practice tricks are still a problem for shoppers and businesses.

Fill Jackson, who started the group in 2000 said they have spent £5,000 of their own money with nothing to show for it.

He said: “We’re sat in here with kids coming in and we don’t know what to say when they ask ‘where’s the skate park?’

“It’s heartbreaking when they’ve got a big smile on their face because they’ve just bought their new skateboard then they have not got anywhere to go.

“If two pieces of wood can make 50 or 60 people happy then come on council – get your finger out.”

Chris Davison, the owner of Scene skateboard shop, in Friargate added: “My only fear is that people will loose hope. They’re just getting so tired.

“There are other things rather than traditional sports like football and rugby that people want to do so why not show people that?

“Skateboarding would be an activity that the community could get involved with.”

A £20,000 ramp was built in Ribbleton two years ago, but skaters have complained that it is unsafe and too far away from the town centre.

Plans to build a facility on London Road were rejected after noise concerns from residents. The site later became a BMX track.

Jimmy Khan, Head of Sport and Recreation at Preston City Council said: “We very much want to keep this project alive.

“It’s very high on our agenda because we know what the feeling is amongst young people.”

Mr Khan said he wanted to build a facility that would attract skateboarders to the city. He added: “Money is so tight at the moment with budget cuts it’s very difficult to come up with any funding for an all singing all dancing skate park.

“I can appreciate it if there feeling left out in the cold. I’m more than happy to sit down and talk and bring them up to speed.”

Town centre ward Respect councillor Michael Lavalette supports the skatepark plans. He said: “I couldn’t skateboard to save my life, but I’m all in favour of this.

“One of the key questions is where it’s going to be situated. Most people want it in a central location but councillors seem to want it as far away as possible. In general terms I think it should be in as central location as possible.”

By Ricki Dewsbury