As a child growing up in 1980's Darlington, more specifically Skerne Park me and my brothers would spend hours at the South Park frog pond. Catching Frogs and Newts (obviously we put them back). A strange little area of the park, set on the other side of the river, a quaint little rocked area, almost like a place one could sit back and relax in total peace and quiet.
As I grew and eventually started skateboarding this small area turned into a fascination, I noticed the sides were transitioned, rumours from back in the day suggested that it had been skated, but I'd never seen anyone down there, and also the opportunity was never really around. I mean it was ALWAYS full of water.
Fast foward to April 2017, I remember it vividly, there was no April showers. I got married and welcomed my cat Chuck into our family - Too much information? ha ha, anyway.....
Heading to the Park I walked up to the Pond with my pal Rich, it was barely full, mainly rotten leaves that had turned to sludge, but most importantly starting to dry up on one side. I had never seen it so low, ever! I was heading into my 27th year of skating. this was happening. Today. I'd finally get to skate the fucking pond.
I ran to the shop and grabbed a brush.
I wasn't too sure if we'd be able to skate the whole of it but settled on at least grabbing a quick trick with Rich
I reported the finding to the gang and exclaimed there's never a better time to get to skate this. We knew we were gonna have a good May weather-wise.
Armed with Spades and Buckets we set about bailing it and clearing the sludge.
We left it overnight to dry.
As there was some water trickling into the pond from a ground pipe, we managed to create a mini reservoir for it to run into. That gave us 30 minutes of no water hitting the main pool, but it also meant you had to bail it constantly, so phone alarms were set to remind us.
We had around 3 days skating it, before it filled back up with rain/ground water.
Strevs couldn't wait to Skate
Darlo OG Fish
This blog was always on my mind to post but things got in the way. We had some clips but i seem to have misplaced them. I'm sure someone will post something if this post jogs their memory.
Special thanks to the NE Boys for being part of it.
Big Love
