Skateboard Escape spatepark Weymouth was built when Weymouth succumbed early on to the thrills of the 1970s UK skateboarding craze. It was built with the help and encouragement of a local co-ordinator at the Youth Activities Centre, who was a keen skater himself. In winter the kids practised on the promenade, but in summer, with thousands of holiday visitors, that was out. What was needed was a skate park.
Local businessman Lorne Edwards had seen skate parks in the US, and found a semi-derelict site on Portland Island where building soon started.
Skateboard Escape is partly completed now, with a banked and waved run about 150′ long, and a 10′ bowl designed for beginners, plus two larger bowls and a freestyle area, and it’s very popular, with skaters travelling from as far away as London.
And there are further plans: next will come a 500m downhill run and – how about this for the last thing in skating luxury? – a continuous cable-pull back to the top. The new run should open some time in 1978, and is sure to open up a whole new dimension in UK skateboarding.
As more and more kids were taking up skateboarding, and more and more people were becoming aware of its popularity and potential, so more and more skate parks appeared all over Britain. And, as many councils moved kids to suitable skating areas.