Spot Check: Westburn Skate Park, Aberdeen

6 November 2005



Overview of the Park on a wintery day, trust, it's smaller than it looks

This small Aberdeen council funded Park is situated in the nice park of Westburn, Aberdeen. It was designed by Mr Andy Dobson with imput from some ASS dudes and they have created a pretty good collection of terrain with the minute budget they were given. This was supposed to be the first of a few independently designed "street" parks in and around Aberdeen, but if you travel to any of them you'll soon find out that this initiative was overlooked and pre-fabricated crap was instead put in its place.

<< The early days, and yes thats a puddle.....



Not that i'm saying this place is perfect, far from it, the space donated was really too small as was the budget.



Basically the layout is a flat bank either end running the entire width of the park, a couple of hubbas, a manny pad into a bank, a "china banks" wall and a "swiss army" (only not compact and red and usefull) grind thing slap bang in the centre of the park.

Willy Moulding, Nollie Krizzlington >>

The problems with these obsticles is primarily a space and time issue, there is none and hence forth you respectively have none.

One issue is the lack of a decent platform to ride out of anything you are able to land,The lack of platform which also serves as a problem to gain enough speed to actually fly out of the other side. Add wet mud into that equation and you are talking dirty, dirty skateboards and or dirty, dirty feet..

The grind wizard is too close to the bottom of the banks to really be put to its full potential and ,unless your bearings are made of mud, you have to suck up all your speed so as not to ride straight into it.

The transition at the bottom of the "china bank" is about half the original and intended i think thats due to lack of consultation with someone who skates during construction, and maybe doing it in the pissing rain...



<< John Rattray, Ollie. No you couldn't.


Other than that this park does exactly what it says on the tin, it provides a temporary solution until the council see fit to address the problem of a park. Emphasis on the word temporary. So this park is, although badly constructed in parts and often claustrophobic, pretty much a sucess.

The Sunday sessions that happened in its first summer were pretty sick, cool to have a place to hang out and waste your time with games of S.K.A.T.E. out of the banks. A warm up for a real street session that would usually not happen, but who cares if you're having a good time right? There is the occasional group of Neds or Junkies that think they own the turf, but stand your ground until they bust out the shanks then its time to jet. More often than not they are just fronting, just use your common sense.

Speaking of other park goers you may find that the ramp, situated to the end of the skatepark, gets used as a slide by kids looking to ruin their trousers. Strange as there's a play park that probably caost 100 G-notes right next door.

This ramp does infact suck hairy balls since its resurface about 6 years ago, but it helped the likes of John Rattray, Daz Main, Kenny Atkin, The Mantle and a host of other 'Deen ledgends develop their ramp skills and for that reason should be given a ceremonial shred on every visit.

The small budget didn't allow for any drainage so you have to be willing to put in effort to skate it. Beacause for 11months of the year it will require brushing, kitty littering, scooping and more brushing.

Thats all cheap and easy to find equipment but i suppose that depends how bad you want to skate. Despite its short history the park has had a fair few visitors, from Scots Ledgend Colin Kennedy, True Rippers Mackey and the the crew at East Skateboards , to the Randomness of Rick McCrank.

Bring on the summer!!!









Callum Barrack Steez with Ease >>













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