A good letters page this month, complete with contribtions from Tym Goldie (Ceramic Rabbit) and Nick Phillips (of the Bath brothers and not the Anarchic Adjustment one). Gavin was in charge at this point.

A word about the photos: we have problems printing pictures which are dark and gloomy, so please only send bright clear ones. If you include a stamped addressed envelope we’ll do our best to send them back to you (write your name and address on the back too), but that always takes time. Thanks.

BRIGHTON ON THE ROCK N ROLL

Once upon a time Brighton had a skate scene, a shop, and a team, and the skaters on the mighty ramp had dreams in which their amazing skill was known throughout the land…

“Stop,” I hear you cry, “We didn’t even know there was a scene in Brighton.” Well there certainly was, and still is for those lucky enough to discover its almost subterranean movements. So what has happened to the once quite prolific number of known skaters in Brighton? The closure of the infamous “Pig City” shop and subsequent split of the team was, I suppose, partly to blame, but did the skaters involved just evaporate? True, some moved to pastures green, and for a while there was a shot of hope in the excellent Luke McKirdy, but he was last seen limping into the casino.

Brighton has one of the biggest ramps in the country, and some of the talent it has produced such as Nowak and the ever-styling Stav could, for my money, wreck most others on vert. But they won’t do comps. Why? If they want to stop the ramp and mini turning into a new sister for the defunct West Pier, the more they achieve comp-wise, the more money they are likely to get.

When was the last time we saw a good photo from Brighton? I noticed a good’un of Ghandi in “100% Skateboarding”, but it had been taken about three years ago! I’m not giving the Brighton lot a slagging, but they sure have a weird “skate ethic”.

Maybe someone out there could explain to me what’s happened?

A Desolate Augustus Snoop

Were those PCP days really that long ago? If the skaters I saw the other week are anything to go by, rumours of Pig City’s death are greatly exagerated.

THIRSK ON THE MAP

I think it’s about time the Thirsk skate posse got noticed. There’s about 20 of us and that’s good because Thirsk is a tiny shit place to live. The main skaters that are really good are Ash, Adrian, Nigel, Kev and Shrimp. And I’m not that bad. So please print something about the Thirsk scene as we’re kind of depressed at the moment as our nearest skate spot (Scoffs) is closing. We needed something to boost our egos. Thanks

Graham Taylor

Thirsk

When I want my ego boosted I dress up as Michael Jackson and hang around the Ape House at London Zoo. As quick as a Hickey I’m surrounded by adoring fans who throw themselves at me. I take their address and visit them with a bottle of vodka and a blow-up chimp. Then the Police usually arrive.

FLOWER POWER

There I was rainy day and dreaming of things like sponsorship and sunny streets when the boredom reached a peak. I needed revival. I slammed in the New Deal video and was inspired by a certain Andy Howell’s skating and drawing. So I put pen to paper and came up with this picture of me. Please stick it in your mag.

Dan of Team Flower

Shropshire

This month I’ll let the art speak for itself. Assuming it doesn’t speak Czech.

VERTICAL THINKING

In response to the letter slagging off vert — I don’t suppose you ever skate vert, so you are probably not aware of the vert revival that is upon us. Vert coverage should not suffer through your narrow mindedness, and neither should street through that of some “vert only” man. If someone’s going to get their picture printed it should be on its merits not its category. If it’s progressive it’s worth coverage, and vert is progressive, not stuck with Smith grinds….

Thank-you for listening,

Nick Phillips

Bath

Point taken, but why don’t we stop the Street versus Vert debate and all have a go at Rollerbladers……

DOLPHIN SEAMEN

This is a letter of appreciation to all those who were in Darlington. I’ve been skating about four and a half years and was just starting to get rad when I joined the Royal Navy. My skating stopped for six weeks while I was in Plymouth, then I went to HMS Dolphin in Portsmouth.

Things picked up, when I got time off I went to Southsea. Things weren’t the same back home in Co Durham, but last weekend was very different. I met up with some of the original Darlo skaters (Canny, Rick, Wayne, Bario) slowly more and more turned up at the ramp in South Park, and when it started raining we moved back into town where we found a number of skaters in the Market Place.

Things dried up and skaters appeared from everywhere. Eventually there was about twenty of us pushing it to the limits. It was the raddest thing I’ve seen in Darlington and brought life to dusty streets. Cheers

Able Seaman Winker

H.M.Submarine Neptune

Are you allowed to skate on your submarine? If so, how low can you ollie?

DOUBLE DUTCH

I would be very glad if you could print a picture of me in your mag. The Dutch skate scene would be so much better if: Joast would stop growing, The Pyjamaman wouldn’t be so sketchy, Vincent bought a new deck, Sjakies VCR would explode, Jesse was a rabbit, and if Chink- chink-chink-chonk and Flappie were hit on the head by a Scud missile.

David Colien de Lara

Buren Holland

I think the Dutch scene would improve if you imported some hills.