This weekend, the Pretty Greeners were at the last stop of the Nando’s Xperimental Skate Jam at London’s BaySixty6. After the success of Leeds and Leicester last weekend in which over 500 kids turned up to learn how to skateboard and meet some of the UK’s top Pros, by 10 o’clock the streets of West London were lined with the skateboarding yoof ready to tear it up.
The BBC’s Mark Bright was at BaySixty6 the night before to do a special feature on the London News and our resident skateboarder Hamo took this opportunity to perform a trick in front of weather-girl Wendy Hurrell (and the whole of TV-watching London!) As you can see from the video, this turned out to be the weather’s biggest blunder since Michael Fish’s infamous 1987 broadcast….
Click on “Hamish it wasn’t me I wasn’t wearing that coloured top” (click again on the still, it’s right at the end when the Beeb do their weather round up from Nando’s Skate Jam, he’s the one under the weather map crawling on his hands and knees).
The event itself was a huge success and with hundreds of kids at the event and DJ Example pumping out the tunes, the atmosphere was absolutely electric. The Nando’s Peri-Peri BBQ chicken went down a storm as kids needed refueling for the afternoon of competitions, and we needed refueling to keep our energy levels on par with the youngsters – we’re not as young as we used to be!
To top off a high-energy day, Nando’s carried out the legendary throw-out from the half-pipe giving away limited-edition skateboard decks and t-shirts to ensure everyone went home with a smile whether they can kick-flip or not… we hadn’t quite mastered it, so we’re already signed up for next year!
So the big debate this week has been around whether or not you can judge a book by its cover, well actually it was an animal by its face, well actually it was whether or not if an animal looks a bit stupid, it actually is (ie) a pigeon Vs a squirrel. Obviously one looks somewhat smarter than the other, devising tricks and techniques to unlock the ever illusive nut, the other pooing on its feet, so much they dissolve.