Skateboard Archives - Blackpool Social Club

26 May

Disorder – Blackpool Skate Film release

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsFilm, Local NewsBlackpool, Film, film festival, filmmaking, skate, Skateboard, skateboarding

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Blackpool Social Club bangs the drum for skateboarding and its close relationship to creativity. With Star Wars being filmed in Cleveleys and the recent Netflix nod on The Comedy Carpet we had a look at Blackpool filmmaker Jake Powell and The ATB collective latest offering: Disorder. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]While skateboarding might often get a bad rep, seen as anti-social and rebellious. Blackpool Social Club has been exploring how Blackpool and alternative creative approaches like skateboarding can benefit a traditional tourist town like Blackpool. With the town often compared to a film set, it is no surprise that Tim Burton has made…

14 May

Bella B: I learned to skateboard, but this is what skateboarding taught me

Blackpool Social Club0 CommentsSports & Wellbeingskate, skate culture, Skateboard

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] As Mental Health Awareness Week 2021 draws to a close, we're pleased to bring you this brilliant guest article from mental health advocate and skateboarder Bella Borgers [/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]I’ll be honest – some days I think: wow, I really shouldn’t be on a skateboard. I’m terrible at looking both ways before I cross the street and I feel genuinely guilty about the number of times I’ve literally stepped on my mother’s toes – I’m that clumsy. Not to mention, I burst into tears when I’m afraid (even at the sudden whisper of BOO!) and I’m completely anxiety-ridden when I feel…

03 May

Skate Stories: Hidden skateboarding spots and creativity

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsLocal NewsBlackpool, creativity, skate, skate culture, Skateboard, skateboarding

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Blackpool bods whose skateboarding activities feed into their creativity. In this article, we talk to a chap known as "Sandy" to his pals. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Tell us who you are: My Name Is Rob Sanderson, most skateboarders and artists know me as Sandy, I'll be turning 32 this year, born and raised in Blackpool. I've been skating for about 17-18 years now which doesn't feel that long ago, I'm starting to feel the ache now though, having to stretch and get warmed up more each time I go out. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] What came first skating or creativity? Skateboarding definitely came first, I was sketching things…

18 Mar

Stanley Park Skatepark Project gets off the ground

Antonia Charlesworth0 CommentsLocal News, Sports & WellbeingBlackpool, development, news, Skateboard, skateboarding, skatepark

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Project manager Simon Bennett tells Antonia Charlesworth about plans for Blackpool’s own state of the art skateboarding facility Construction on Blackpool’s own plaza-style skatepark is expected in the coming weeks, the duo behind it have told Blackpool Social Club. Blackpool’s go-to skate expert Woody, of Big Woody's Skate Shop, and project manager Simon Bennett have raised over £200,000 for the 100 per cent concrete skatepark which will replace the existing dilapidated equipment and replicate street furniture, such as steps, rails and curbs. The pair also hope to build a California-style bowl. The planning application for the project is in…

10 Mar

The Skate Escape: Lewis Farley & Plant Skate Co

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsEnvironment and Nature, Sports & WellbeingBlackpool, Film Making, Skateboard, skateboarding

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] I met Lewis Farley years ago filming an event at The Grand Theatre, it's interesting how many filmmakers are also skateboarders. In a further instalment of "Blackpool Skate Stories", we talk about a new skate park, making films, mental health and what skating means to him [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Tell me about you - who you are and what you do. Hello, I'm Lewis - a Blackpool-based filmmaker/skateboarder. I'm currently running Plant Skate Co with two of my friends. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Can you tell me what came first film making or skating? Skateboarding came first for sure, I started skateboarding when I…

07 Mar

Blackpool Skateboard Stories: Curb Culture

Catherine Mugonyi0 CommentsSports & Wellbeingenvironment, skate, skate culture, Skateboard

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] If you follow BSC on Instagram, you may have seen @curb.culture pop up a couple of times. The profile is full of vibrant images caught on 35mm film and video clips showing a variety of skaters honing and showing off their skills, but more importantly having an awesome time doing it. Continuing BSC’s skate season, I had a virtual meet-up with Adam Hopkin, skater, journalist, photographer and founder of Curb Culture: A zine that highlights independent skate culture.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]How did Curb Culture come about? Despite being in Blackpool for so long I've never had any contact with any of the creative…

07 Mar

Blackpool Skateboard Stories: Big Woody

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsEnvironment and Natureenvironment, health, skate, Skateboard, skateculture

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] I wonder a lot about skateboarding after studying Fine Art in Northampton once the home to the largest skate park in the UK, Radlands. It was there I found a peer group making work about skating and it felt like the very fabric of Northampton was made up of the sights, sounds, and musical influences of four wheels and a board. I remember speaking to a tutor who told me about a student in a previous year who painted landscapes, works depicting how he saw the world as a skater - a series of flat surfaces and potential spaces…

07 Mar

Blackpool Skateboard Stories: Girl skaters get some air

Antonia Charlesworth0 CommentsSports & Wellbeingskate culture, Skateboard, women

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Whether it’s complete newbies or people returning to the sport, everyone is welcome at Ramp City’s Girls’ Skate Night. Antonia Charlesworth steps tentatively onto her board. Photos: Claire Griffiths I’m standing on a skateboard for the first time in almost twenty years. The last time resulted in a few weeks in a luminous pink cast on my left arm and now I have a lot more to lose. The truth is, even then I was no badass rider – it was a guy friend’s deck and I was feeling brave and asked for a go. I learnt my painful…

07 Mar

In Her Place: Urban Skateboarding

Stephanie Cottle0 CommentsColumns & Opinion, Sports & WellbeingBlackpool, community, Place, skate, skate culture, Skateboard, women

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] In another instalment of In Her Place Stephanie Cottle looks back before skating into the future. If I was asked as a kid to imagine what the year 2020 would look like, I can guarantee that I would have envisioned the fun, futuristic depictions from my favourite childhood films. I’m talking teenagers on hoverboards and self-lacing trainers – the really important stuff. We all know the rather less exciting reality of 2020 was that instead of jetting off to have silver suit adventures in flying cars, we’ve faced extraordinarily tight restrictions on our movements. No planes, no trains, no automobiles. Back in March…

25 Oct

Ramp City Loses Artist Designed Ramps

Claire Griffiths0 CommentsLocal News, Sports & WellbeingSkateboard

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Full Pipe in Ramp City in Blackpool, Lancashire UK is currently being dismantled along with it’s very cool kidney pool. The end of an era. The full pipe when initially installed was the only full wooden full pipe of its kind in the UK. It arrived with much excitement and was initially procured from artists produced as art installations and touring internationally, including Berlin, LA and ended up in Blackpool for 9 years. To see more about the international artists who created the pool and pipe visit simparch.org After studying Fine Art in Northampton which then had the biggest Skate…