Credit Crunch - not so bad for us

Take a read of this

Know any good pools anywhere? Time to get on google earth!

Macc - Jam: top event of 08!

By Mr Joe Gavin, the man himself. Read his thoughts here

Meeting mins

Online here

West park refurb

Take a look what do you think?

Poynton Latest - Decisions decisions!

After much debate the council has been swayed to plump for a bowl design. Problem is, they needed to make sure they were getting value for money. So more tenders have come in, including this rather tasty morsel.....

The new design should not impact on the construction start day, thank goodness, and all tenders will now include a "skate path" with grind boxes and manual pads leading up to the bowl.

So tell us what you think...

Southpark Tenders are out!

4 of the UKs best skatepark builders are competing to build the new concrete park in Southpark. They are Maverick, Gravity, Freestyle and Wheelscape. We'll post the designs when they come outand also get them up in Hopp so you can have your say. Hopefully the park will be complete by the summer!

Southpark site meeting

Members of MSPG met with skatepark designers, friends of Southpark
members and a representative from MBC to check out the most
appropriate site for a park. Looks like Maverick, Freestyle and
Gravity are all going to put in tenders, so if you want to have a
voice on the design keep checking back for more details of any up
comming design meetings.

New! meeting minutes now online!

For those that are interested, follow this link

West Park - Latest

Following an accident to a four year old using the bike track a few weeks ago, MBC have started to look at West Park and have earmarked around £5K for repairs. They have also approached us to ask if we can generate more funding. The idea is, the more we can raise, the more that can be done to improve the skate area and track.

So we are currently applying for grants and gifts from potential funders, but we need more!

If you have any good fundraising ideas, or are willing to help out, shake a bucket, or sell some cement!? then please get in touch. Alternatively, why not make a donation straight to to the fund! We can garantee 100% of the money you give will go to the skate park.

Also look out for more details on the design comming in the next few weeks! Or if you have any big (or small) ideas for stuff you would like to be included, think about it and then join the consultation comming soon.

Southpark Latest

It all seems to be comming together for Southpark, a decent level of funding is in place and inital designs and quotes are being pulled together by the team involved. We have suggested trying to achieve something like at Burton-on-trent only a bit bigger if we can!

Have a look at their park blog here.

Here are some pictures of their design, small but perfectly formed!

Join us!

In an attempt to build our membership and to keep you all informed of what's going on in the area, please take a minute to fill in this form. We promise we won't give your details to anyone and we won't contact you unless its really important!

Bollington Latest

Members from MSPG met with Bolly town council this week and outlined a proposal to build a skatepark under the arches of the railway viaduct. The councillors were mostly positive but its going to be a long haul what with it being a listed structure, there been loads of other interest groups involved and the fact that we dont have any funding (yet). We think maybe a couple of years before this one is off the ground.

Waterside undercover skatepark

From this...

To this (or at least something like this).....

This site is here

Funding application is being prepared as you read.

Macc latest! - Skate Mecca?!

Macc borough council is going full steam ahead with the plans to turn Macc into a riding/skating Mecca. Projects underway include:

1. A BMX track/dirt jump area at Upton Priory
2. A BMX track/dirt jumps at Windmill Park
3. Street style skate plaza at Southpark
4. Resurfacing and expansion of West Park spot
5. Undercover ramps in/near Bollington Rec
6. Undercover skate plaza at the Riverside spot, benath the Silk road by HSS

Macc-Skate is fully behind these plans and we hope to make each spot varied and unique so that we have loads of great local spots.

The undercover plans will be harder to sort as permisons from landowners need to be gotten, and the riverside is currently owned by Cheshire County Council.

Now we at Macc-Skate know there has been lots of talk about this for years but we have a great advocate in the Council Offices and she has been working really hard to get these projects off the ground. We think this time might just be it!

Poynton latest

At a meeting last week, the group in charge of putting together the Deva project discussed the bowl design. There are some moves to improve the street aspects with a wider rim for a manual pad with discussions ongoing. But the builders Maverick are ready to break ground in February 09! So with a 6-8wk build time that means that Poynton could have its very own concrete skate park by Easter! However getting the Town Council to give the final go ahead is another matter. We'll be in contact with Maverick and post the latest news when we get it.... 

Ts sold out! Decks going fast

Thanks to this weeks mention in Sidewalk, the Ts have sold out and there has been a run on the decks. Now only 12 left! Get them fast at Hopp!

Dreaming a dream....

This week some of the group met with Macc council to discuss improving the facilities for all freeride sports in the borough and what they want from us are ideas. If you know of a bit of wasteland or space that looks like it could be suitable to put something on, then drop us a line with your ideas and we will include it in our proposal that we are putting together. 

Here are some images from California to get you in the mood...
The Ken Wormhoudt skatepark in Santa Cruz....

and the Santa Cruz bmx park.... imagine this is in Macc!!!

Decks and Ts

Get them while you still can! Going like hotcakes from Hopp!!

Thanks for your support Guys!

Macc Express

Some coverage of the event from the local rag...

Poynton redesign is here... Tell us what you think!

We have just recieved the redesign for Poynton Skatepark at Deva playing fields. It looks pretty sick, and with a bit more flat space along the bottom for the manual pad could be pretty much perfect for the space. 

BUT! we need your comments to give feedback to the council and team that are working on this, so PLEASE spread the word, get all the riders you know to check it out and leave comments below...

Remember, its only a small site, the size of a 25m swimming pool, so you cant pack everything in you want, but what there is here is a pretty versetile 2 stage bowl with some hips for jumping off...

So tell us what you think...

Yet more jam photos...

Some of these are sick...

Paint jam photos

Finally managed to get these on the web..... Taken the Sunday before Flock off, when the group painted the ramp, to give it better grip, and for a general spruce up.

More Jam photos...

Thanks to Mark Adams for these great shots.....

Poynton latest

A site meeting was held at Deva fields, Poynton today with
representatives from Maverick industries and the guys involved with
the Poynton plan. To cut a long storey short, it was agreed to
completely review the current design which has been much critisied for
it's compromised design and the overly tight stair set. Matt the
Maverick designer was clear about it's limitations and suggested
instead a tapered bowl design with several hips and a manual pad along
one side. This should fulfill the breif of being a good site for
beginners, with further challenges for more advanced riders. Mark from
the MSPG and Josh Palmer will be acting as conduits for comments on
the design from other users. We will publish the designs for comment
when we get them. So watch this space ....

Meeting 9th Sept 08

Just a quick meeting tonight to sort out the left overs of the Jam.... 

We raised around £100 from collections on the day and have been steadily selling the decks and Ts.

Going forwards, 

Jason is going to get something together for the BMXers in the town, who are feeling a bit left out. Hopefully this will be conjunction with Andrew at the Hub. More info on this soon.....

Mark is going to get stuck into the council and try and raise the need for a new Skate Park up the adgena. Might be a slow process!

Anyone interested in helping the group, please drop us a mail.

Flock off - Fish eye photos

Some great photos of the senior street jam winner and Frazer in the high jump comp. Taken at "Flock off" last Saturday. 

....more jam photos to follow

Poynton plan unveiled

This is an image of the proposed full concrete skate park at Deva playingfields, Poynton.

We think the bowl looks pretty good but it looks too tight to ride on the right, with the stair set not having enough run up or run off space. We will be lobbying to get this sorted with Maverick when we see them in the next few weeks.

Also wheres the manual box? one of the most useful pieces or a kicker for the bmx's?

Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Tired of waiting? Anticipating?

Tired of waiting for the council to pull their fingers out and help build us a new park?

Then why not build your own ramp?

If you've got the room either indoors or out, you could fit a home made mini ramp or vert ramp in it. Free construction plans are available at

http://www.rickdahlen.com/hpplans/plans.html

Contact us, if you're going to do it, and we'll come and give you a hand

Flock Off Goes Off

After literally days of planning the first Macclesfield Skate Jam, “Flock off”, took place last Saturday in West Park, Macclesfield. Around 100 riders and a similar number of spectators enjoyed the good weather to spend the afternoon watching and riding in a series of fiercely fought competitions.

First up were the groms (U16) on the ramp. Three heats with the top 3 riders in each heat going through set up a great 30min final set. Reece Johnson took the top honours pulling some tricky transitions to win a limited edition Macclesfield Skate Park Deck, with Panny, Frog and Henry Sinclair following. Hayley took a highly respectable 5th as top placed girl with a flowing set with sweet transitions.

This set the stage for the seniors and local riders, Matt Grant, Mouse and Kieran Hughes were out to show that they could cut it with the visiting riders. With 10 riders on the ramp all vying to ride and show what they could do, it got a little chaotic, and at times 3 riders were trannying the ramp at once. Although the crowd were lapping the near miss skating up, the referee called the riders in to one at a time. What followed was 40mins of great ramp riding.

Matt took a beating as he tried again and again to land a blunt 360 flip out to fakie, but Kieran pulled out a really powered up set to take thrid. Eventual honours went to Effortless Dave, who with his effortless floaty style shredded the ramp with some fakie bigspins and some frontside 5-0s. Second spot went to John Bell who landed some stunning tricks including a rocket drop-in which left the crowd cheering in delight.

Next up was the grom street comp. This was in a jam format with instant prizes for riders landing nice tricks. It was pretty much mayhem in the park for half an hour and no doubt there were plenty of bruised shins the next morning from the efforts. The seniors followed, and again didn’t disappoint.

Top prize went to a nameless tuxedoed rider from Manchester who was landing huge 5ft kickflips to flat and backside kick airs off the kicker – Awesome stuff.

Next was the 4x death race. Here 4 riders raced round the suicide track, with the winner going through. 8 heats, 2 semis and a final were full of thrills and spills with riders giving it there all. Harry Shaw came in ahead of the crowd here. A high jump comp was next with the top grom reaching 3ft 2 and the seniors 3ft 8.

The day came to a close with a wall ride session on the ramp with the remaining prizes being given to those groms with the most battered and broken boards.

A top day was had by all, and everyone agreed that we should do it again next year. Reggae and hip hop were provided all day by the Gavinator Soundsystem and thanks to Hopp and Note for the prizes. Also thanks to all the riders that took part.