In the lead up to Cowley Road Carnival 2003, Mon B, a well known skater in Oxford and some other friends, showed Oxford's young skaters how to build their own skating obstacles at Meadow Lane.  Hear Mon B tell his skating story
Find out what Jack Richens has to say about building obstacles |
As Mon said, he's been in the skating business for a fair while... He originally set up his shop, SS20, 15 years ago. Before that, he and his partners in the shop were champions in their sports - Mon B roller skated, his business partner, Sean, skated and Dave snow-boarded. And before all of this, he used to build skating ramps when he was a teenager on his parents farm. Mon B said: "For the past 15 years, I have been trying to get a permanent skating facility in Oxford. I set up a charity to get the site at Meadow Lane going and there is still a long while till I get what I am after."  | | Mon B shows how to plane a skater obstacle. |
Henrietta Gill, Cowley Road Carnival Co-ordinator, approached Mon about helping out with events and publicity for this year's carnival. Mon B continued: "Cowley Road Carnival is about locals getting involved, making the community work and creating a good scene. So we said, instead of paying for the ramps through someone else, why not give us the money and we'll build a load of ramps so you can use them every year for skate boarding at the Carnival." "For the carnival, we're producing a load of ramps that will have a long-term benefit for the local kids around Oxford. It's good for the carnival and it's good for the community to make it work.  | | Jack Richens planes away at his skate board ramp. |
"The ramps will be there for anyone who wants to use them for any event." Jack Richens, chairman of the Oxford Wheels Project, also turned up to help build the skate board ramps and obstacles. Jack said: "We've got wood, tools and equipment to construct obstacles to take down to the Cowley Road Carnival - so we've got a place to skate and people can come down and enjoy themselves." "The reason skating is so popular is that you don't really need a team to do it. You can do it on your own or go out with your friends.  | | Waiting for a turn to skate. |
"You only need a small site, a big flat piece of concrete and can then spend the rest of the day playing around." Both Mon, Jack and the other skaters plan to make the Cowley Road Carnival a special day with loads of skating tricks on display.
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