Skatepark 48th Birthday – A Community Together

Sunday was Southsea Skatepark’s 48th birthday celebration and what a special day it was. We were blown away with the incredible turnout from OG locals to families for the first time, it was hands down the best community event we’ve had at the skatepark in years, and it was all thanks to you.

Music

We’ve so many incredible friends old and new to thank, so let’s kick off with our DJ hosts for the day, Handsome Dave Rocker and Charlie Longlive, both keeping the energy up and everyone stoked. Throughout the day we had a lineup of fantastic bands including The Monday Smile ripped a heavy duty set, The Breeze crushed theirs too and we had the pleasure to host the first ever set by the excellent The Drains. We’re so pleased to be able to provide a stage and bring together an audience to help showcase these two local bands of young, talented musicians. Jim Barber and Dave Morgan were on hand to really help make all this music happen on the day, thanks guys.

Headlining the day was the one and only Flash with a heavy duty DnB set, sending everyone home head nodding and a jump in their step. All this was made possible by the kindness of Leon Windsor and Pitt Street Skatepark for their generous support with sound equipment and a PA system, you guys rule.

Competitions and Jams

Through the day we had a number of really fun competitions with some heavy duty skating, BMX and scooter riding, with prizes very generously donated by a number of companies. First up our homies at Bored of Southsea hooked the winners up with Adidas, Carhartt and more, thank you guys. We also had prizes donated by Wooden Wife & Pitt St, thank you Jake, Jenna and crew. We  had some skate stuff from Decadence too who were also in attendance as well, great to have your support plus a shout out to Shrunken Head Skates too! From the BMX scene we had the kind support of Control BMX (who were rolling deep on the day too), Federal, Tall Order and T77 BMX too. We also need to give a massive thanks to DoGG and Scootopia for their donations too, everyone who one something had the biggest smile and went home stoked.

Partnerships

New to the skatepark, not just for the weekend, was The Club House, who spent the weeks in the run up to the event working really hard as a team to get the new cafe ready for a soft opening for the birthday event. Thank you to them for making that happen and we look forward to partnering with them as they roll out the full new cafe offer, keep your eyes open for that!

Speaking of partners, we need to say thank you to Bernie and Shred Academy, the awesome coaching programme that is close to celebrating their first anniversary at the skatepark! If you want to find out how you can get involved with the new term intake, hit them up. 

Strong Island Clothing went the extra mile in turning around quickly the new t-shirts ready for the day. Exceptional quality and service as always, thanks Tristan! The tees sold really well too! If you have a long memory you’ll recognise the design, it is something Bruce from ILOVEDUST created for us back in 2014 for a limited tee run, a Pompey rework of an OG Santa Cruz Cellblock graphic. Thanks so much to Bruce for okaying the new run and Tristan for the mono & halftone update. A crew of Portsmouth design and print champions. 

Volunteers

Our final thank you is just to the team who made the day possible. The staff were incredible and really stepped up and really really appreciate their dedication to making the day fun for everyone. Complementing the staff was a awesome and inspiring team of volunteers. We’ve been partnering with the University of Portsmouth volunteering team for over 6 months and they have been fantastic. Volunteers on the day also included Amelie and Adrian, plus we had a number of Southsea Skatepark trustees on hand too with George and Sam helping throughout the day. To make the day happen and the picnic tables around the park were all thanks to the work of the infamous Yardboiz and our friends at Victorious Festival, thank you so much for your ongoing help and support. We also had an epic volunteer media team on hand throughout the day, with Joe Watson and Toby Price (from Story Key Media), both taking care of business with fantastic photography and footage (we have a video of the day coming soon), a massive thank you to these two epic creatives.

Thank You!

So…what a day, what an event, what a turn out and for a Portsmouth volunteer led charity run skatepark, what a fantastic local community all pulling together to give Southsea Skatepark an unforgettable 48th birthday. 

You got to wonder, how can we top that, with an eye on the big 50th coming soon? Let us know your ideas!