Southsea Skate Park & Glorious Summer Days

The lazy summer days spent on Southsea Common are looking like far more of a fast-approaching reality. The sun has been shining on Southsea for the last week in an unusual warm spell for March. These warm sunny days have spurred me onto tidying up the garden and thinking about how to spend my summer break from uni.

Southsea Common will no doubt see some serious summer-lounging action. When thinking about how lucky we are to have such a glorious spot in our city, I came across an article in The News about the changes at Southsea Skate Park. 

I am so pleased that somebody has taken action and a group have taken over the day-to-day running from Portsmouth City Council. I hope that they can continue to run and improve such a historic and iconic part of Southsea.

Southsea Skate Park on a bright summer day

I have seen the impact that the skate park has on the city’s youth and anything that gives them something to take an interest in should be praised. There are too many young people at a loose end in the Portsmouth area and this centre creates a safe meeting place and gives them something to focus their energy on.

In one of its final acts before dissolving, Southsea Town Council have handed over cash to help Southsea Skate Park. Hopefully this cash will see a new lease of life for the centre. There has been talk of investment in a roof so those typically British rainy days will not halt play. Year-round opening and improved facilities certainly makes the future of Southsea Skate Park looks bright.

The café is now open at the skate park and is not only servicing the needs of the park users, but the manager has plans for the Common users too. So my lazy summer days spent down at the Common may just be slightly more refreshed with an ice-cold drink served direct from the skate park.

The official opening is this weekend and they have a whole host of activities planned for Saturday and Sunday. For more details see  http://www.southseaskatepark.com/.

Check out the posters that have been created by local artists especially for the opening at http://www.strong-island.co.uk/2011/03/13/southsea-skatepark-opening-weekend-posters/. 

One of the Southsea Skate Park posters

Snowboard Recycling Part II - Ride Revival

The snowboard-recycling theme seems to be continuing in my life. The boyfriend is keen to turn his old snowboard into garden furniture, as it will be cheaper, more eco-friendly and ultimately cooler than anything you can pick up in Ikea. He has been eyeing up the snowboard that currently has pride of place hanging as artwork in the hall and it looks like this once well-ridden and loved board is going to be reincarnated for the third time.

Looking through some sites, I came across Ride Revival. Their motto: “A ride for life not just a season.” They want to turn your old snowboards into artwork or chairs as mentioned in yesterdays blog.

Snowboard chair

Their site features funky looking chairs, which you can buy pre-made or if you want to give it a go yourself, you can buy the frame from them to create your very own snowboard chair. They also have a page where you can sell them your old board (although this does say – coming soon).

This is another example of a company saving hard-to-recycle items from landfill. According to the Ski Club of Great Britain, Tamworth SnowDome is so keen on the idea it is donating all its old rental boards to Ride Revival.

Their ‘Hiking a Line’ artwork looks fab and I’m sure it would make a welcome addition to any ex-seasonniare’s home. It would also look nice on the wall of my multi-million pound chalet in Val D’Isere… (daydreaming, lol).

Good work Ride Revival, smart chairs and artwork. I’ll be interested in what other products you can come up with. 

Check them out at http://www.riderevival.com/. Read their blog at http://www.riderevival.com/blog.php. Follow them on facebook or Twitter.

Ride Revival's website

Snowboard Recycling - ReRide Boards

While trawling through the great big car boot sale in the sky, EBay, I came across a vendor that caught my attention. A company called ReRide were advertising an old Apo snowboard. Their slogan impressed me: ‘We are ReRide. We never put a good board down.’

They claim to be: ‘Committed to getting that board in the back of your garage back out on the slopes, strapped to the feet of a new snowboarder.’

What an absolutely fantastic base for a business! There must be thousands of disused snowboards lurking in the UK’s garages and sheds.

My old snowboard has been proudly turned into a piece of art by hanging it on the wall. I have friends that have converted theirs into benches in their bar. That same bar is home to a very old and uber-cool mono-ski that was found at the end of the season sadly discarded into the rubbish room. It now has pride of place above your head as you enter the bar. This has got me thinking… If snowboarding became a mainstream sport in the 80’s and is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, then where are these retro boards?

Surely they can’t all be in landfill?

The original boards of the 60’s were made of varnished plywood but modern snowboards are built of fiberglass and plastic. Fiberglass recycling is extremely expensive and very rare, so most equipment ends up in landfill. The Snow Sports Industries of America is currently in its third year of developing a snow-gear recycling scheme. In 2009 it took in the equivalent of 80,000 snowboards. That’s a lot of snowboards.

While I acknowledge that the UK does not have a snow sports industry on its soil, equipment must be finding its way back here and into lofts and sheds. Any company that is committed to ensuring that snowboards can enjoy a second life deserves praise.

Well done ReRide! Keep up the good work!

Anybody with an old snowboard can trade it in against the cost of a new board through http://www.reride.co.uk/. You can also follow their blog http://reride.co.uk/blog/.

ReRide's website

First time!

Hello there...
Welcome to my blog! I'm going to attempt to convey a sense of the chaotic, stressful, funny, emotional and sometimes downright dramatic aspects of my life.
For now I will leave you with that little teaser...
Kim x