Southport Solid Surf / Helters 1978 - 1999Photos and memories of the 78/79 skaters |
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The following is a history of the skate scene based around Southport Solid Surf Skatepark from it's construction in 1978 to it's demolition in 1999.
The photos are in chronological order as best as I can date them. Some photos are shown full-size. others are thumbnails and will popup fullsize images if clicked.
I grew up in Golborne, Lancashire, and began skating in the summer of 1975. Gradually I went from skating around where I lived to visiting the original Bolton and Stalybridge skateparks in 76/77. As these were some of the first UK skateparks the construction was poor. In 78 a new skatepark opened on the sea-front at Southport with much better construction quality. Once Southport Solid Surf (as I always called it) opened I saw no reason to go back to the older skateparks.
The biggest advance in British skating was the arrival of Skateboard! Magazine in about August 1977. Until then everyone had been isolated and things developed slowly. Skateboard! magazine was a big influence, but seemed unconnected with our skating up in Lancashire. It was pretty much centred around London, which I'd never been to and couldn't imagine visiting.
I guess it was the following summer of 1978 that Southport Solid Surf Skatepark opened on the sea-front. Here I could and did imagine I really lived in California and lived out the Dog-Town dream. I remember top skaters Stefan Harkon and Sheenagh Burdell (hot 70's U.K. girl skater) and her parent's skate shop where we met Shugo Kubo one day.
Visiting this skatepark regularly was one of the most important and memorable things I did as a teenager, and I'm fortunate to have some photos taken in 1979 which I've included below.
I started skating again for a while in the late 1990s, and then again in August 2003 to December 2004. I've now met or been in touch with several of the original Southport skaters from the 78-79 period.
A combination of Southport having been so important to me, having a complete set of Skateboard! magazines from which many of the images below are taken, and having been contacted by several of the original skaters meant that I've been able to put this web page together.
Southport was often criticised as not being a well laid out skatepark, and having dodgy fiberglass ramps not fastened down properly. Despite that the fact that it was right on the sea-front, had a combination of concrete and ramps, and felt (to me at least) like it was in California and not Lancashire meant that people who skated there in 78/79 had a really special experience they all remember to this day.
Another feature not obvious to us at the time was that the small half-pipe was flat-bottomed. I remember at the time thinking how much more enjoyable this half-pipe was as a result. The photos below show that in the 70s we were riding what any skater now would instantly recognise as a mini-ramp, with the same proportions as mini-ramps in modern skateparks. In the 70s skaters tended to skate 'in' the ramps rather than launching from the top of the ramp, and as can be seen below there was no platform at the top of any of the fiberglass ramps.
Eventually when the skate boom fizzled out the skatepark was closed and buried under sand. A kiddies play area was placed over the top of it. The sand protected the concrete beneath and some years later parts of the skatepark were unburied and skated again. I was never part of this period of skating there, and doubt it really bore much resemblance to 78/79 when the skatepark was fully open and brand-new.
The remnants of the skatepark were finally demolished in 1999 to make way for a go-kart track. The lodge (which can be seen in one of the photos below) is still there and is now the entrance to the go-kart track.
Only a few years after it finaly closed a new skatepark has been built not far from the original. I don't know alot about this skatepark yet, but hopefully a new generation of skaters are enjoying something of what we felt back in 78/79.
| Dave Brown |
| Skated around the UK in the late 90s, and skated on and off at skateparks in NW England between 2003 and 2006. |
| Travelled up to Southport on the train from Wigan with friends as often as I could manage it from not long after it opened to the autumn of 79. Got to know the local skaters a bit and made some friends you can see in the background of my photos below. The best days of my life. I'll never be happier than I was skating at Southport. |
| Andy Cielecki |
| Still skating at skateparks in NW England |
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I spent most weekends at Solid Surf between mid 78- 79, othere then when we went travling to london, kiddy or colne.
Do you remeber..Darren & Sheena , Oz, ferret, Dave the rave, Godfrey, Jay, the older guy with the street stick who's name escapes me? always had his blond roller skating girl friends with him..who every one fancied lol. A couple of pics of me at southport are on the M.A.S vintage pics page, Cielecki is my surname. great days. |
| Ian Parry |
| Still skating at skateparks in NW England |
| Ian usually skated at St Annes skatepark, but also skated Southport from time to time. He's still a really talented skater and is mentioned in one of the articles below. He switched to Southport when St Annes closed down. He supplied the scan of an entrance ticket. |
| Neil Atkinson |
| Living near London, Snowboarding, recently discovered old-timers are skating again, and getting back into skating himself. |
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I have just been snowboarding with a couple of old friends who also
skated in the Sev's. I came across
your pictures from Southport and I think I remember you, albeit, quarter
of a century ago. Makes you feel old huh!
I certainly remember the Burdells where I bought my Sablosky deck, ACS 651's and Powerflex wheels (still have it!) and you rekindled a memory of being in a rugby scrum outside their shop to see Kubo. Stef (I'm a teapot) Harkon was mentioned even on the snowboarding trip with Chris Ward and Mark Scarisbrick. (I Used to wear a Powerflex shirt and a green metalflake helmet like Sheenagh - I won the highjump at the first contest) Getting back into skating is a new revelation for me, I think watching "Dogtown and the Z boys" did it. |
| Chris Ward |
| Started skating again in the spring of 2004. Keen to see everyone again. |
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Tell you what I have got, one of the original 'Solid Surf' T-Shirts from Southport!! I was one of the 'marshall's' when the park first opened! We got free entry and 3 free drinks a day! Woopeedoo!!
I certainly remember Darren and Shenagh. Shenagh was the first person I met when we all first started skating on the promenade, WAAAAY before the park got built. Jay Cunliffe (from St. Helens) was one of my best friends. I wish I could get in touch with him coz he must have LOADS of photos of me. Then there was the twins from Formby, Gary and Keith, Roger Kenrick and his mate Rick, Armie from Formby, Chris Cadman, Mark Scarisbrick. I remember all sorts of stuff, like going with Sheenagh & the others to that park down south where she was photographed for the magazine. Trips to Colne as well and Arrow park in the Midlands. |
| Eddy Hornby |
| Working in Stockport and still has fond memories of the good old days |
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The seaside location really made you feel like you were in Santa Monica! My family used to go to Southport for our holidays when I was about 13, so I was in second heaven at "Helters". My abiding memories are of that section of the snake run that seemed to be one of the only things anyone ever bothered riding - presumably because it had a bit of vert: the unrideable "mogul maze" - always half full of sand: the club house with its juke-box and old Gottlieb pinball machine - rows of Z-Pigs and Alvas lined up against the bench seating when it rained: Rector shorts and Town & Country Surf Designs shirts being the order of the day!
Do you remember the constant background noise of the chain pulling up the old wooden roller coaster? Southport always holds such brilliant memories for me - hot days spent endlessly carving the concrete. |
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The Autumn of 1979 was the end of the first 'golden age' of Helters skatepark. The last UK skateboard magazine 'Skateboard!' ceased publication and skating died completely. The following pictures are from 1980 and show the park looking very tired and at the start of a new period of using other attractions to bring in money with the skating as almost a sideline. Thanks to Eddy Hornby for these photos. Respect due also for still skating in 1980. One one the few, as shown in the photos of an almost empty skatepark.
In the late 1980s the skatepark had a second wind as a result of the boom in skating following the Back to the future film. In these photos taken in 1989 the brilliant vibe of the late 70s can be seen again. Thanks to Neil Atkinson for these photos.
Only the top half of the snake-run was left skateable, and had become in effect a half-pipe. The rest was buried under sand and the space taken up by amusement rides.
Click on the thumbnails below for full-sized images.
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The Burdell Family
The Burdell family were well known to Southport skaters in the 70's. They ran the skateshop in London Road, and Sheenagh Burdell was a was a very talented Southport skater, sponsored by Lan Skateboards. Here is Sheenagh featured in Skateboard! magazine visiting Rolling Thunder.
Irene Burdell has kindly donated two Newspaper cuttings, showing what became of Sheenagh in later years.
| Irene Burdell |
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Hi, I have just Been reading with great interest David Brown's article on skateboarding in the 70'S. I am Irene Burdell Sheenagh and Darren's Mum who used to have the skate shop in London ST. It brought back a lot of memories of the long days in the shop. Well Sheenagh gave up skating many years ago and moved onto motor bikes along with Darren and many of their friends who all used to congregate at our house in Hesketh Dr. Sheenagh eventually went into the motor bike business with her partner Edgar. They were into classic bikes and drag racing, which she competed in with as much gusto as she did skateboarding. She now lives in south west France with her partner Edgar and her 7 year old son. She has a house which she lets to visitors. She is still into bikes and I am sure she probably still has a skateboard lurking around somewhere. I know Darren has. I have included a couple of photos. Great days. |
The new Southport Skatepark
Opened in 2004 within a few hundred metres of the original skatepark.I went along to take a look early one morning not long after the new skatepark opened. I bumped into Neil Atkinson and Chris Ward, two skaters who like me used to skate at Southport Solid Surf in the 1970s.
