28/07/2022
20th Nailsea Community skatepark festival (July 16th 2022) - Definitely worth the wait.
In its 20th year the Nailsea community skatepark festival took place in blazing sunshine on Saturday July 16th, at the millennium park, but despite the heat everybody on the skate park managed to put in an incredible performance throughout the day.
Organisers were really pleased to have such a great entry of local competitors, as well as travelling competitors in a range of categories in the scooter, skateboard and rollerblade disciplines. Due to Covid, organisers had not been able to run the event for the last two years, so it was great to be back in person at the ‘new’ park still looking in great shape since it was built five years ago
The event had to be postponed from late June due to predicted rain, but there were no such concerns for this one. The volunteers and organisers had made extra plans to draft in gazebos and ensure everybody had a place to chill, and it was nice to see the trees providing great additional shade.
The festival didn’t just provide action on the skate park, but there was plenty to do in the millennium Park itself with refreshments crepe, a barbecue and some stalls highlighting amongst other things: Wellspring counselling, Clevedon skatepark project, Nailsea community trust, Nailsea pump track project and a display of pictures from the last 20 years of the skate fest.
There was table tennis and pool and a youth chillout area, as well as a children’s area with lots of activities. Due to the heat the dance troupe TLF requested to come on a little bit earlier and did fantastically well through a medley of dances.
With regards the skate park some great tunes from the DJ meant that both heats of all the categories were energetically ran with many of the competitors wowing the crowds with some crazy manoeuvres.
Coming down to the winners in the girl’s category, there was one brilliant young lady called Lexie who took away the prizes, and two young men Theo & Jacob aged just six years old took away the awards for the youngest competitors.
In the scooter category (two categories) the under 12’s really scooted well with a very close decision, in the 12 and under category, Bristol’s Henry Cole just taking the win ahead of Mani Palmer and Nailsea’s Jacob Lamb.
A really strong showing in the older category saw Bristol’s Harvey Bevan, taking the victory ahead of Adan Powis and local scooter rider Jake Vickers.
It was great to see a lot of skateboarders this year and in the skate 11 under Will from Backwell beat Max and Oli to the title, whilst in the 12 to 15 category, Clevedon’s Archie beat Nailsea’s Somerset Hanson to win the title. The over 16 skate category was very hotly contested and in a close heat Nailsea Rob Waghorn just beating fellow locals Dennis Luffman and Anis Tebib to the 2022 title.
For the first time in a number of years there was a good contingent of rollerbladers with Swindon’s Danny Brain beating Max Bladins and Nailsea’s Larry Oates.
The organisers in conjunction with the family had decided to dedicate this event as a celebration of Toby Riley life who passed away just over a year ago, and it was fantastic to have Suzy and Al present to hand over the trophies. Organisers also handed the family a commemorative trophy in memory of Toby, and all that the park meant to him.
Just before the presentation local Nailsea Town chaplain Jules Harris explained about her role, listening and be prepared to talk to people about anything that they might want to bring up, and also if requested to pray with people as well as assisting with practical support.
Event director from year one Phil Williams said ‘It is amazing to be back together again, a great vibe around the park, and one of my driving forces behind organising this event is seeing the youngsters coming through, from beginners to experienced and talented park users. I also believe that as a person of faith God loves skate park uses as much as anybody else in the world, and having a faith is key at these challenging times for so many people’.
A huge number of people came together to make this community event happen, they included partners and sponsors from year one Holy Trinity Church, Christian Surfers and Skaters UK, Trendlewood church, Nailsea Community Trust, Nailsea Town Council, Christians together in Nailsea, Crucial BMX, Shiner Skateboards, North Somerset Council for the use of the park and obviously the cooperation of Scotch Horn centre.
The event was also blessed to have in this the 20th year additional support from Hewes recruitment, the Old farmhouse, Barratt homes, Bakers the butchers, Wraxall and Tickenham church, Tesco, Skate or die skate shop, Nailsea Baptist Church and also Jules Richardson for her help on the design of the poster and the programme.
The biggest thanks go to the competitors that have continually supported this event from year one, and of course the incredible team of volunteers that have given up their time freely to serve the skate park and surrounding area community.
In commemoration of 20 years every competitor that took part was given a commemorative Nailsea skate Park project enamel mug, a nice reminder of the day.
All being well the event will be back again in 2023 and if there are people out there that would like to get involved in helping to run this event, please could they contact Phil at [email protected] All in all a fantastic day where the skate park users were able to show just what they can achieve through their hours and hours of dedicated practice.
