This letters page is from the period when Gavin Hills was in charge. The fine art of winding up skateboard magazines by sending them letters designed for publication was practised on us as well as Skateboard! The source of one of these is fairly clear.
Meanwhile in an attempt to encourage people who weren’t quite so dedicated, Gavin had a go at summarising some points from other letters. There’s one in there from an “old” skater, aged 40 in 1989, which will strike a chord with many people reading this…

We can fit more letters on the page if they’re short-ish, so sometimes we cut long ones to fit. Don’t forget your name and address, sometimes we reply. But please don’t send copy letters asking for ‘any leaflets on skateboarding as I’m doing a project at school’ We haven’t got any of those.

ISLAND LIFE

In Issue 80, not counting adverts and non skating shots, there were 42 photos of USA riders, 30 photos of British riders and 4 other photos of skaters from Brazil, New Zealand, Australia or Czechoslovakia. Is skating in Britain so boring than it deserves so little coverage in British mags? Is there really no-one in Britain who deserves an Intro? I think not?
Oh look: a Monster comp report. Good job you covered it with such detail, as I’m sure all the other mags around the world won’t give it any mention at all!!
Why not do some interviews? Dan-Z, Dossett, Davie Philip, Wurzel, Gary Lee, Don Brider, Ged, Rodga Harvey, etc, etc, would I’m sure have something of interest to say. Much more interesting than some comp report.
Let’s kill skating in this country?! The life force/energy is suffering a slow death.
The Gunslinger Oxford
Couldn’t agree more with your general point BUT, come off it: Monster’s significance is that it is huge, truly international, and takes place in Europe. Skating is breaking free from its Californian roots and growing into a world-wide thing. Whether that agrees with your view on what’s right or not, we would have been letting everyone down if we’d ignored it.
Yes, during the competition season the non-British skaters who dominate those events get a lot of coverage. We’re not into a petty nationalistic ‘Eddie the Eagle’ thing. And when we do tend in that direction (Bod) we soon get picked up by other readers.
Anyway, the season’s over now, so we’ve got the space to broaden our coverage again. But no, we’re not going to take the easy option of a series of interviews with a small group of obvious ‘names’. Instead we’re off on the road again, struggling to show you something of what’s happening in the big wide world instead of the cosy competition circuit. It’s harder to plan, takes much more time and money and doesn’t massage any egos, but we believe it’s every bit as interesting and it’s certainly more fun. That Dead Cow day was the best day in ’89 so far for me, as you well know.

NORTHERN IRELAND

I am one pissed off Northern Ireland. For months I have read issues on Germany, America and hundreds of other places to skate. I would just once like to see some Northern Ireland coverage _ just one page in some issue. We have a thriving scene over here. There are some ripping skaters: Stuarty Anderson is doing 10 foot handrails and Kick-flip Ollie Blunts on fly-oofs! Also David Shanks has pulled off 540 Gay Twist at the Laurel Hill banks, transitional wall at the dam Old Warner Bowl (it’s crap). And the council is building us a mini-ramp at the leisure centre.
In Antrim we have two ramps: an all steel one 16 feet wide, 6 feet high with 8 foot transitions and a 10 feet high, 12 feet wide, 9 foot transition wooden one (it’s knackered).
Yours pissed offingly
Ian Morrison
How was the Derry street jam?

GLOUCESTER

I just have to tell you that the Gloucestershire scene is completely raging. We are talking 5, yes FIVE, mini-ramps within 10 miles of Cirencester, all of them close to each other. One is already finished and another two are likely to be finished by the time you read this. The other two are both in the planning stage. Both have got permission and one has a majority of the necessary materials already.
The finished ramp is a small but fun 8′ wide, 3′ high, 6′ trans ramp which is public, free, unsupervised and can be found behind the youth club in Fairford. One of the nearly built ramps is 12′ wide, 6′ high, 8′ trans. It is private and indoors, will cost #1 a day and is located in Southrop near Fairford. Please phone Southrop 463 for details and anyone will be welcome.
The other nearly-built ramp is roughly 16′ wide, 6′ high, 9′ trans, is public and is located in StMichael’s park Cirencester and has a metal surface. This ramp is council flowed.
The other two ramps which are in the planning stage are both private, so info cannot be given yet, but both owners are friendly, so if you are in the know you’ll be able to skate them. Please print this so that everyone can see what can be done if you put your mind to it and inspire them to change their ‘crap scene with crap roads’ to a raging scene. Come here soon.
James Davis Southrop
OK

CARE TO ADD?

After filling out your thingy in Issue 80 I thought as I couldn’t fit all the hassle I get in your space, I’d make a list:

• Old persons complaining about me ‘rattling’ past their flats on a Sunday and also early in the morning (which is hardly ever as I’m never up) or late at night.
• General moans about boarding along the path.
• When I got my jams and stuff on I get called SURF BASTARD by certain sods in our place including me broth.
• When I have me deck with me in town I get certain boys (very fashion wise and shop-at-Next type) come up and say in a really thick like manner “Er, SKATEBOARD, went out ages ago didn’t it??”
• I get hassled by girls in me class (unfortunately I go to a girls school) for having a deck and being boy like
• Get hassled by me parents for the amount of money I spend on skateboard stuff and also the amount of boots I go through
• My Aunt complains about the type of people I hang out with cause they’re all boys and she says they’re scruffy looking thugs. She constantly reminds me that I’m a girl (which I do know)
• I get dun for skating in the pub car-park on Saturdays as the landlord said I ‘worry the drivers as they think they might knock me over!’
• I get dun for carrying my board around certain shops, eg Boots: they say ‘either leave it outside or don’t bother coming in’
• I get hassle from my gym teacher (she don’t like me, but I don’t give a shite) because I usually miss her lessons from injury skateboarding at weekends.
• I sometimes get jip from some boarders (mostly the younger ones about 10-12 years old) cause I sometimes wear an old Skyway Recreation shirt with the sleeves ripped out. Mistaken I might be, but I thought skaters and bikers weren’t enemies or rivals, but sort of like ‘mates’.
• WOT most annoys me is once when talking to some skaters in town (boys about 18), this girl came up and stated to me in a really bitchy way ‘Just because you’ve got a skateboard under your arm, you think you think you can pull all the boys _ poser, is all the girls did that wouldn’t we be lucky? I bet you can’t even stand on that thing.’

The cheek of her calling my pride and joy a ‘thing’. I was so hyped that I promptly pulled a Boneless into a grind along the wall which I’d been practising for weeks, but I always bailed. To my surprise and the girls, I made it! I got prompt applause from the boys with their boards and gasps from the girls. Me? _ I were well chuffed up!
This is when I thought ‘besides all this hassle I can still enjoy skateboarding.’So all u who think you’re useless (like I did) keep going _ skateboarding needs you!
Bin Brigstock

POINTS OF VIEW

with Gimmy Paynes
Last month’s reader survey has dominated our mail recently _ here’s a quick run through of some of the points you made, starting with Richard Armstrong from Carlisle who says ‘Rad is Rad!’ _ just the sort of cringe-making in depth analysis you expect from such a crappy questionaire. Others were more profound: ‘The end is nigh’, stated Mark Lynes from Ravenstone in Leicestershire _ perhaps he knows something we don’t or maybe he’d just seen a packet of ‘Ollies’ crisps.
Now over to Johnathan Froggatt who seeks a ‘spot the board’ competition. Well, Johnathan, you used to be able to play that with old copies of Action Bike, but it sort of died out…
‘I’m with Dr Eugene D. Mander,’ states Dave Lewis from Telford, ‘interact with your environment, roll and be whole!’. Continuing on this trippy note, Jerm Donaldson of Belfast wants to know if Ged Wells is on magic mushrooms. Err, no, Jerm, Ged’s on life and Pacer Hogs which is far more worrying. Still in Ireland, but moving South, David King of Dublin wrote one of the few convincing letters on the ‘our area doesn’t get any coverage/ we don’t get any sponsors’ theme. Well, we do try to get around as much as possible, I even bought a tube pass the other day.
Vanessa Bell of London spoke for much of our female readership asking for some encouragement at least. She also hates Guns’n’Roses coz they’re sexist and homophobic, but she missed the obvious point that they’re also contrived crap.
While we’re talking issues, how about ageism? Cary Dean is an Isle of Wight boy _ well, not exactly: he’s 40 and feels the over 35s don’t really get a look in. I suppose that makes Rodga H feel like a young whippersnapper.
And finally, the funny bit at the end is devoted to Rob Dukes, who revealed that he used Addis plastics, a Gray Nicholls box for protection, had Chris Miller for a father, read House and Garden, wanted ‘more monkeys’ in the mag. His favourite move was Knight to Knight Bishop 2, he also gave the most constructive advice of all: ‘Kill Ian Lawson and put 2000 Volts up Tim Leighton-Boyce.’

TOP TEN MOST HATED

• Thatcher
• Kylie/ Jason
• Bros
• Guns’n’Roses
• Lager Louts
• Victims
• Croydon Boys
• Bromley Boys
• London Boys
• Leicester Council