edinburgh Skatepark By Richard Bullimore Photos by Rorie Balloch
The wait is finally over! Skateboarding has come a long way since its explosion in popularity in the 80’s however one city was always lagging behind in the movement…
The City of Edinburgh Council has finally granted a new outdoor Skate Park. Following a series of petitions and rejections dating back nine years, we now have a base at the outdoor activity haven that is Saughton Park. This article closes a chapter on something that first took my interest back at college; a project I named “Geez us a Skate Park” (the clue is in the title). Before then I only participated in skating as a teenager, but never took it seriously. Over the years the influence of my more committed skating friends began to rub off on me, and in turn their struggle for an outdoor skate park within the city, and therefore acceptance, became apparent. When the time came to pick our own projects at college I had already witnessed my friends’ struggles first hand and without a second
thought I decided this was the subject I would cover. I immediately set off to Bristo Square armed with a digital video camera. I captured on film all I had stopped and admired during my days as a casual participant - the skaters and bmxers use of the steps in and around the area to compliment their jumps and grinds; the way these adolescents turned the square’s street furniture into a social gathering point. But, this wasn’t a teenager’s stone living room; it was public property. Even if this gang of skaters were tolerated by the passing students, workers and policemen, it was only because there was nowhere else for them to go. Knowing this gave them a feeling of deep frustration. They wanted something better; something most other cities of similar size had the privilege of. A skate park meant acceptance, not just tolerance.