Field Report #1 Truro

This is a new type of post that I hope will help us and those involved with the new skatepark to work out what does and what doesn't work by looking at other parks and their strengths and weaknesses.

Skatepark: Truro "plaza"
Location: Truro, Cornwall.
Construction: Concrete.

The first thing I feel needs to be said is a lack of transition does not make a skatepark a plaza. I say lack of transition, there is a fair sized mini ramp although it certainly looks like it's addition was an afterthought. In general the build quality of the park seems very good but this precast ramp has a inch or so gap between each section which an be slightly unsettling when attempting slides on it's incredibly slippery coping.

There are some interesting obstacles, stair sets of different sizes, a couple of pier 7s and a bank not quite steep enough to do call a wallride but not mellow enough to be enjoyable to do fliptricks on. I did notice a complete lack of rails both sloped and flat.

There is a good variety of obstacles but the layout is abysmal. I wasn't expecting to be able to hit every obstacle one after the other, in fact that type of lines orientated park can often lead to only one person being able to skate a park at a time, whilst having the park so obstacles can be sessioned independently allows more people to have more runs.

A curved ledge marks the frontier of the park on one side, this looked like it could be fun but it had been designated the mum and dad bench the Saturday afternoon I was there. This curved ledge blocks the run up to one of the pier 7s, after landing any trick on the wedge block you then need to drop down about 5 kerb high drops which of you've landed sketchily may well be your down fall.

There was a big issue with lines and some of the obstacles such as the rainbow block, curved hubba and the 25' hubba seemed to be a bit out of reach for everyone at the park, although I think inliners may have had more luck. Like many other parks a lack of landscaping of the surrounding grass left dust and stones to be a hazard.

There is a lot we can learn from this park, there are many things I would certainly like to see in our park, CCTV, a free water fountain, and an area set aside just for flatland, although the dip for drainage in the middle of this area soon made itself known to me. I think the greatest lesson to be learned is that all the build quality and good obstacle design in the world can't make up for a lack flow.

Good Points:

Nice surface not too rough not too slippery,
CCTV,
Water fountain,
Flatland,
Actual stairs.

Bad Points:

Lay out,
Too many little single or two steps,
Precast mini with gaps.

Ready to Roll

The repair works have now been completed and the refurbished skatepark was opened yesterday. The lips at the bottom of the ramps have been rectified and the bottoms of the flatbanks have had transition added to make them a little more forgiving. Odd other repairs and a new lick of paint have the park looking lovely. The new high-low rail has not been installed but the other flatbar has been moved to the other end of the park in preparation for its arrival. We now have somewhere skateable to tide us while we campaign for a full replacement. Thanks to all involved!

Ch,ch,ch changes...

Luke, Nic and Phil were at the park today to discuss some changes to the layout. The funbox is being rotated so the banks are on the inside, this is easier to trick off and allows it to be skated as an up block and down block. The rail on the funbox will be lowered a couple inches which will hopefully lead to all sorts of new shenanigans. The flat bar is being moved to opposite end of the park, almost mirroring where it once was. In its new location it will also be a couple inches (no more) lower. A few feet from where the flatbar used to be a 2.5 meter long kinked single bar hi-low rail will be installed. Luke assures me all the hips have been unaffected. Fabricators have started on the transition at the bottom of the flatbanks so it shouldn't be too long before the new facelifted park is revealed.

Boooo! Rubbish!

I got wind of this from Mike and Macy on sunday and Phil confirmed it today; at some point over the week the park was broken into and used. The finish on the epoxy on the halfpipe now needs to be redone. In addition to this there were bottles smashed across the park further holding up progress. It was not just one group as luke caught some younger skaters entering the park but larger footprints have also been found.

Please spread the word that the park is closed for a good reason, every time something like this happens it sets the project back as work has to be redone.

Watch the progress unfold!

Phil has been very hard working and been visiting the skatepark each day to keep builders on track and to document the progress, these photos can be found here:

Gallery

Spring jam and the start of the refurb.

The spring jam absolutely went off this weekend, with the highlight being the modelling balloon fuelled mini jam. This picture pretty much sums it up.

All in all the day really showed the local scene is thriving and that there is the demand for a quality skate facility in Chelmsford. Enough people came down early that sweeping out under the ramps and filling the many rubbish sacks with litter felt like it didn't take much time at all. Prizes were given out by: Duffs, Three Amigos, Demon Extreme, DX Park in Colchester, Wheelscape and the ever generous Daz Coles. For a more thorough write up, see Phil's essex rollers post. For more pictures, scroll to the bottom of this post.

The jam was the last chance to use the park before repair work started. This work has already begun in earnest. A high fence has been erected around the park. This is not just to stop people riding the park before work is completed but, to stop the sand that is being blasted at high speed from blinding passers by. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT POKE YOUR HEAD OVER THE FENCES OR MAKE HOLES IN THE FOIL BETWEEN PANELS. We are willing to give an arm and a leg for this park, but we don't want anyone to lose their eyesight. The park will be closed for the next few weeks. There is no set re-opening day as it is not yet known exactly how much work must be done.

I'm sure you have all taken the time to fill out the petition, but if not please do, and send a link to few local people you think would support the cause. It sounds like the numbers are mounting up and it would be great to be able to show a massive amount of support when looking for funding.

Albums From the Jam:

Dan Slieker's

Phil McEwan's

Stephen Robinson's

Ben Wills'

Matt Green's 

More to come from Halliday and Stratton.

Central repairs

Phil met with Andy Eaves today who is organising the repair work to take place soon, below is a link where Phil describes all the developments.

http://essexrollers.blogspot.com/2010/03/chelmsford-central-skate-park-repair.html

Although our aim is to replace not repair the park, that goal is a long way off at the moment, so at least we will have something safer and more stable until then. The park will be closed for a couple weeks, so you will all have to go out and hit the streets while sandblasting, riveting and painting take place. I just hope they realise not to paint the coping and rails like they did last time!

Phil mentions litter in the area, which we hope you will all chip in and help sort out as a gesture of goodwill.

Hopefully the park will be in great shape for our Spring Jam, which due to regulations is not an event, and we will not be playing music or selling food, although someone may bring along their ghettoblaster, who knows, we are just a group of people meeting up to do an activity at a designated area for such activities.