Labour of love: the Redditch skatepark story

This is the inspirational and touching story of the changing Redditch scene, from the birth of UK BMX, the great eighties boom and crash, through to the present day. Set against the backdrop of Redditch racetrack and skatepark, it is a tale of hope and tragedy written by the man at the centre of it all, Steve Rooke. This is his story.I’ve been riding some 20 years now and when I say to riders these days that I’m from Redditch, they say, "Where’s that?"

"14 miles south of Birmingham off the M42" I reply. Little do they know that once-upon-a-time the goings on in this town gave birth to BMX in the UK, and for those who remember, this was a place every rider knew of. And where once the UK’s first official BMX track sat, now one of the country’s largest outdoor skateparks has evolved.

In the beginning

Redditch gave birth to its first son in 1980 thanks to a guy called Geoff Wiles, who was sent over to the USA by the Halford’s head-office, based in the town, a year before to check out a new cycle sport called Bicycle Motocross – BMX as we know it today. The next operation was to build a BMX track in Redditch, similar to what he saw in the states and to set-up the first race, at first for local kids in the town. It was the first official track to be built in the UK but was soon followed by many more across the land. Regional and national races followed. Then the Americans came over for the first international race meeting, called the Anglo-American. BMX legends such as Harry Leary, Stu Thompson, Clint Miller and a 15-year-old Gary Ellis raced against the British underdogs such as Andy Ruffel, Tim March and local boys Matt White, and Gary and Mark O’Conner. This day went down in history when top British bloke Tim March won a head-to-head against BMX legend Harry Leary – becoming the first British bloke to beat a yank pro.

The old Redditch track was once the meeting place thousands of riders and people –there were lots of trade stands, even a double decker bus for a control centre, and you couldn’t move for riders or even get to go on the track on a weekend. Sadly, that all gradually changed over time – the whole thing became a victim of its own success as the local residents complained about the PA system, the banging of the start gate – you name it, it was complained about. No more races. Riders went elsewhere. With no money to repair the track it became neglected, overgrown and just a winding dirt trail in a bumpy field, and BMX went underground in the mid-eighties.

Last chance saloon

Some times in life when things have gone wrong before, you get a second chance to put things right again and I was given this chance by fate itself possibly. For about the last 12 years different groups of riders and skaters tried to get themselves a skatepark in this town. The usual story – nowhere to ride, having to travel, and all in a town that was once voted the most boring in the UK with a high youth population. We didn’t stand a chance. Every thing, if it happened for young people at all, never seemed to last very long in this town.

Young people would turn to youth workers for help in sorting them a skate park only to be manipulated into becoming involved with such things as youth awareness workshops. To top it all off, the cash-strapped council never had any money to spare. I was mainly into flatland at the time riding in the BFA nationals with my mate Jason Hewitt in the early 90s when, with a couple of other friends, we went for a week to Cornwall, eventually finding Mount Hawke. If you have been there it’s a village with a few hundred houses and a narrow, rough singletrack lane that leads to a gate and one mother of a skatepark in the middle of nowhere. It was out doors then. I was blown away trying to figure out how a village in the middle of nowhere could have this? There was now no excuse for not having one in Redditch.

Sometimes I used to go down the old run down Redditch track, stand where the start gate was and remember what once was and the good times – the crowds, the race meetings, the jumping sessions, stacking the tyres up on the third berm to see who could clear the most – things that meant so much to us but that are only memories now.

The hand of fate
Then fate kicked-in in 1995. I made a decision to drive down a local estate just to turn around when I saw a new group of young BMXers in a town where I thought I was one of Redditch’s last three riders left. I stopped the car to speak to them, I showed them a few flatland tricks although one of them nicked my car keys because he thought I was a bit dodgy and was about to make off with their bikes. I asked them what’s happening in Redditch for BMX now, “Nothing” they replied. “We’ve been to the council,” they said “ – they’ve got no money and some youth worker turned us away when we asked if he could help get us some ramps.” Then I remembered what I saw at Mount Hawke and thought there’s no excuse – I said I would help them.

The Redditch Wheels Project
I set up meetings with local councillors and officers, youth workers, but not having much of a clue at first I was passed from pillar to post, but eventually I met with a guy called Anthony Jones who was having a similar problem in Birmingham; he said in the short term that building trails would be a solution while we campaigned for a skatepark. We went to the council with this idea and they granted us permission to build on the old BMX track. We formed an organisation called the Redditch Wheels Project, secured sponsorship from my company and a local plant firm, and work started on the trails. I left Anthony to it. He was a builder by trade and I had never seen anyone work a shovel so good. The old bomb hole section of the track was converted into a tabletop to roll into an eight-foot fly-off to hip. An eight pack to a berm into more sections, a six-pack, big two pack – there was loads to ride.

A mortal blow

Word soon spread and never since 1984 had this place seen so many riders. When you see a good new riding spot appear, so do new riders, new talent and new friends. Regulars at the trails were Martin and Steven Murray, Dale Holmes, Geth Shooter, Kerry and Scott Edgeworth, Chico Hooke and a whole new generation of locals appeared. All was going well when tragedy struck: Anthony Jones died of a heart attack in his sleep aged 30. Anthony was a good friend to many people, a good rider – he was burly guy with a riding style to match and those who knew him will remember his big over flat 360s out of the bomb hole. He was a nice guy and well liked. Things seemed to go downhill for us after that due to low moral and finding the shortfall in funding for the skatepark. It seemed that there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

The council comes good

It was somehow meant to be that BMX would prevail at Redditch. The council had a restructure and were looking to put money into leisure – they stumped up £100,000 to add to the £15,000 we raised ourselves.

In the meantime we had designed the skate park. It was1999 now and work started on the skatepark – first a tarmac area that everybody thought was a new car park because it was months before any ramps started to appear. Nearly a year passed and the skatepark was finished at last. The council asked us to run it for them, and the Redditch Wheels Project became a charity and took on the running of the park. The open day followed and we held a jam that day and dedicated it to the memory of Anthony Jones who knew we had the funds to build the skatepark before he left us, due to a leaked council document. He was as determined as I to see this through. A mural is on the wall ride so we never forget what he was about.

The people

You will find a core group of locals that ride it as often as possible. These include two guys to watch out for in the future – Matt Hill and Johnny. I’ve watched these guys over the past few years and their riding has come a long way – they’re good. There’s Kung, Lee Hathaway, old school BFA Jason Hewitt, Matt Hill, Ross Wearing, Jon Hodgetts, Ben (the duck) Sutor, Chris (Woodward) Zerlocky and Rich Break. Regular visits from Berewood include Dean, Kenny, Belve, Homer and Tom. The Stratford locals, Eggy and Martin from Worcester, spine-ramp king Adam Peters and last but by no mean least, Gerry Galley.

This, to me, has been a mixture of triumph and tragedy, it’s been a struggle all the way but the end result was well worth it. I could not let BMX slip away in this town, the place where it all began in this country some 22 years ago. Redditch Skatepark now sits proudly next to where the old BMX track once was. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Redditch Borough Council who are totally behind what we are doing, all the members of the Wheels Project and any one who has ever helped in any way. In the future, following the example of Mount Hawke, I would like to take the skatepark indoors – no promises, but lets just see what happens.

Steve Rooke
Redditch Skatepark