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MEANWHILE
Often referred to as the UK's oldest skateboard park Meanwhile 1 was built in early 76. I think there were other parks before this in Wales and Cornwall but because this was in London it got all the Publicity until Skatecity opened A new park was recently built on the site of Meanwhile 1
Britain's first concrete skatepark of the millennium
This is to complement the 80's in spot Meanwhile 2
Where ollieing the gap is the holy grail
Here's a history of skating in the Meanwhile/Portobello
MEANWHILE MADNESS 70's STYLE
For years I had successfully pushed skateboarding to the back of my mind due to the humiliation that accompanied my childhood attempts to master it. And then I came to live in Portobello, and realised that not only had I moved somewhere that is regarded as the spiritual home of skateboarding, but also to the one place where every skateboarder from ten to forty years of age can do it better than I ever dreamt of doing it.
It all started in 1976 when a local charitable body, the Meanwhile Gardens Trust initiated the building of what was probably Europe's first concrete skatepark. 'Meanwhile', was in the words of a contemporary skateboarder, 'basically a massive hole dug in the ground with concrete poured into it', but despite its primitive construction it soon became the focal point of the emerging London and UK skateboard scene. Although it was built for the youth of the local area to use, skateboarders from all over London soon came to regard it as somewhere exciting to meet up and skate.
'We forget today that this was a time before computer games and decent TV for young people … there really wasn't that much to do', says Warren Beckworth, a skateboarder of that time. 'Skateboarding came along and gave us a really exciting alternative world to move into … suddenly we were offered American magazine dreams'.
Warren, along with other skateboarders like Mark Sinclair (who grew up in Trellick Tower}, Paul Sully, Roger Harvey, Jingles, Sean Gough and many others, formed themselves into a loose knit skateboarding group called LSD, short for 'London Skate Dominates'. Photographs of the group's skateboarding were soon regularly featured in the new skateboard magazines published at the time, effectively setting the standards for the rest of the UK skateboarding world.
Around the late 1970's, skateboarding exploded into public attention. Every kid in the UK seemed to be taking to the streets with a bright polypropelene skateboard with big clear rubber wheels. For the serious skaters there was a demand for bigger and better parks, and soon skateparks were built all over the UK. In Portobello, Meanwhile 2 which was a series of ramps, opened alongside the existing park in 1978. Soon after it moved to a new home underneath the Westway at Royal Oak where it remains to this day as the areas second free skating facility. An infamous half-pipe was built near to Latimer Road in the early eighties and remained there for many years. 'Playstation' skatepark opened under the Westway at Portobello Road, where it too remains.
In the years that followed, skateboarding went in and out of fashion, but there was always a dedicated band of diehard skateboarders skating in the local parks. Although the original skatepark at Meanwhile Gardens gradually fell into disrepair, this only meant that riders had to be a bit more savvy at avoiding the worst cracks in the surface, and in negotiating the pools of standing water at the bottom of the bowl.
In 1998 some 22 years after the first skatepark was built, and after pressure from local skateboarders, Meanwhile Gardens Community Association managed to raise joint funding of over #100,000 for a complete refurbishment of the skatepark and the surrounding area. (Funds were raised from The National Lottery, New Life for Paddington SRB and The Foundation for Sports and the Arts.)
Since it opened in earlier this year the new skatepark has been an overwhelming success. Jackie Rosenberg, Project Manager of the Association, says that research has shown a five fold increase in people using the park since it reopened. At peak weekends in the summer as many as 40 skaters gathered to skate there. The skate event 'Meanwhile … Back in the Park' on September 10th drew a crowd in excess of 400 people to an afternoon of skateboarding and music.
In amongst the teenage kids at the Portobello skateparks, you still meet many of the people who started skateboarding there in the 70's and 80's, proving that skateboarding is not only for the young. Twenty five years after he started skateboarding, Warren Beckwith is still skating, only now he skates alongside his son Jamie aged 14, already an accomplished rider.
'For many of us skateboarding continues to be a big part of our lives. It isn't easy to learn and once you've got it, it never leaves your blood. No matter what level you are at, the first time you learn to do something new on a skateboard you get a wonderful sense of personal achievement … that feeling never changes.'
thanks to Warren Beckwith, Warren Tellam, Terence Anthony and Jackie Rosenberg. Photographs by Andrew Lockhart, Clare Lynch. Archive photographs courtesy of the Meanwhile Gardens Community Association.
Meanwhile 1 is situated in Meanwhile
Gardens off Gt Western Road in Westbourne Park.
Meanwhile 2 is situated near to Royal Oak Underground Station under the Westway.
Playstation Skatepark is situated in Acklam Road under the Westway, near to
Portobello Road. Tel: 020 7792 0584 for details of session times and prices
photos and more info needed of m/w 1.