Transgression Park
Posted by Carolyn in July's Magazine
Where would you find bmx, skateboard, and parkour enthusiasts, mingling with tourists and shoppers, all within fifty yards of the Queen’s old holiday home? Why Ocean Terminal of course, host to one of the few indoor skate parks in the country. If you don’t know your parkour from your freerunning, or freestyle bmxing sounds like a triathalon gone wrong, then read on – you might just think differently about protests against the Council’s plans for an open-air park in the city.
In 1984, local boy Ken Smith borrowed his uncle’s bmx bike and stumbled upon a hobby that was to become a lifelong passion. When the family relocated to Derbyshire he was taken under the wings of Jamie Bestwick – now a famous bmx freestyler – whose father built a skate ramp on the school tennis courts. Not only was he able to practice in the open air, he was introduced to indoor skate parks and the all-year opportunities they presented. Back in Scotland, he left both school and home and undertook a variety of low paid jobs. By now an accomplished amateur, Ken knew he didn’t have what it takes to become professional but realised he knew enough about urban sports and the needs of young people, to be able to pursue a career in the field.
In 1999, Ken and a mate from Leith’s Citadel, took on the role of advocates for a group of teenagers who had started to lobby Edinburgh City Council for a skate park. Although sympathetic, the Council warned that they (the teenagers) would be unlikely to get one, but that their children might. (rather like the timescale for the Trams.) Undeterred, Ken began a feasibility study for an indoor skate park. A meeting in a pub where he worked, led to him teaming up with Doug McFadzean and Dougie Graham who had the same idea and, crucially, financial backing, but lacked skills on the ground. A partnership was thus formed.
In 2006 parkour hit the headlines in Britain, thanks to Madonna’s Jump video, the opening scenes in Casino royale and a documentary called Jump Britain. Parkour involves running – and jumping – off anything and everything, as you traverse a park/ street/ city. Not to be confused with freerunning, which, although similar, is apparently a type of urban acrobatics, with tricks and street stunts. On the back of this exposure, the lads hatched a plan to pull together people they knew – bmx stunt riders, freerunners, parkours, skaters and breakdancers, and perform at events wherever they could. One of their first shows was at the Big Boys Toys annual event at Ocean Terminal, next up was the Edinburgh rat Race. Their profile and reputation shot up and eventually their dream became concrete. In January 2008, Transgression Park opened on the top floor of Ocean Terminal.
Ocean Terminal is a perfect location for this now nationally renowned skate park. It’s on numerous bus routes, it’s safe at night, and parents can leave their children there unattended if they’ve booked a lesson. It takes skating/bmxing etc, to a whole new audience, including tourists, who stumble into a free show when looking for Britannia. People from all sorts of backgrounds use the park. Young people from the poorest parts of the city make friends with private school kids and both find an active hobby that can guard against lives of potential addiction and crime. The privileged train with the unemployed, nascent stunt cyclists ride alongside professionals like Danny MacAskill, whose short film on YouTube was a thing of beauty.
Last year, the Park put on an amazing event at Leith Festival, showcasing stunt riders, skaters, breakdancers, freerunners and beatboxers. They took it to Edinburgh Festival where, tragically, they lost £11k, due to problems with the outdoor venue and the weather. However, they bounced back at Leith Festival this year with the Battle of the Bands, won by Sea Bass Kid.
It’s all miles away from the image of rowdy, drunken teenagers, presented in any skate-park protest meetings. On the contrary, Ken and the team provide a space full of hope… offering services to the social work department, whereby clients come with their key workers for free lessons and equipment hire. Amazingly, children with autism excel, through one to one lessons where they get clear, precise, instructions they can relate to. The park receives no funding from the Council.
A decade on from the cries of those original teenagers, the councillors’ promise is nearing fruition. A state of the art outdoor skate park is at last to be built in Saughtonhill Park. It’s not what the skaters wanted – they’d championed small local satellite parks in five different areas of the city – but they have thrown their support behind the plan, believing that it’s better to be on board in an advisory capacity than to be left out of the design and implementation.
As recently as 2004, Ken Smith was scouting possible sites on his BMX. Now commercial companies are on the phone to him seeking advice, which is great, but maybe the Council should be on that phone, working in tandem with Ken and his team, putting money where, at the moment, only words are. After all the buzzwords are there – social inclusion, diversity, non-discrimination, disaffected youth – surely that would be a step, or a skate, in the right direction?
www.transgressionpark.co.uk
tel. 0131 555 3755