Skateboarding on Kenton Bar Estate

I can categorically state that I was the FIRST person on Kenton Bar Estate to get a skateboard. It was given to me by my elder sister who lived in that London and when she visited she brought me one. My first was a wooden affair with rubber wheels with green screen printing on the top. She also brought me a packet of Space Dust. I for the life of me cannot remember the brand or manufacturer. I took it out the same day and used it down the street from me on the bank in front of  Fourstones Close. I cannot remember exactly who played with me but I do think one was Micky Topping – can’t remember who else. The wooden board was quickly broken after a few weeks, the trucks (where the wheels were attached to the board and allowed steering) were very poor and snapped. It was GREAT fun and I was hooked…..

I quickly started bugging Mam for another board. Of course I wanted a better one with better wheels, better trucks, a polypropylene main board – my dreams were vast I can tell you. Quickly others on the estate started to get boards. I got a red polypropylene one called a “Vulcan” bought in the market in Newcastle. I got all the safety gear including a JOFA helmet as pictured in this exact model and colour. Whether it would have done any good in a real crash is debatable. I got knee and elbow pads and a boat load of grip tape from my elder brother who ‘found’ it at work. My board was far away from my dream however it was still great fun. What I really wanted was a Cedar or Maple board with Gullwing Trucks and  White Kryptonic wheels – ho hum – way out of my pocket and way out of Mam’s pocket too.

The other one of the mates I hung out with was Spill and he got a blue poly board with I seem to remember red wheels. I was envious of Spill as his wheels were soft compound and had a much better grip when turning and doing tricks. My wheels were hard compound and tended to skid more easily AND get jammed on small stones making the rider fall off the board in a rather sudden fashion. We used to oil and tend to our machines all the time, oiling the bearings, dismantling and reassembling to make the trucks tighter – all sorts of faffing about. Granty and Blacktooth had excellent boards  - real American types but they were shite boarders and spent more time on their arses than on the board………..I remember the name of Granty’s board had “fox” in it somewhere or “coyote” and the board was either transparent red or blue, my memory fails me – anyway it was a nice board. Blacktooth’s was massive – about the size of a real surfboard but with wheels – can’t remember the brand at all except that the board was black.

The best places for skateboarding on the estate were:-

  For tricks like Daffies, kick turns, wheelies & jumps – definitely the blue tiled bit near the pyramid where the water was supposed to go. http://www.board-crazy.co.uk/tricks_d.php
  For slalom – the Pyry bank for sure and Ryal Walk for speed slalom from the top of the estate downwards
  For ramp work – a piece of plywood propped against the steps in front of the flats on stilts at the bottom of the Pyry ramp – the ones that have the red caging installed on now

Ramp work - The noise (kashtooomph as GOM would say) of the skateboard hitting the wooden ramp propped against the stairs again and again as kids sped towards it, rode up and kick-turned at the top was hypnotic – unfortunately the tenants of the block did not appreciate this going on for hours and hours each day whilst they tried to watch Coronation Street – sometimes up until 10PM at night. The BOLOS (Bastions Of Law & Order) were called on numerous occasions and red faced angry fist waving tenants were frequent visitors – all to no avail. We came back again and again and again until the skateboard fad faded out. My board broke in half and I did get another one, yellow poly this time, but the early enthusiasm was never regained.

By the way Spill was the most skilful on his board – he could do 360 turns at the top of the ramp, great long jumps and was a wizard at slalom.

Note: having your trucks slack meant steering the board was easy but the board itself was unstable. I preferred my trucks tightened right up and stiff.