It’s likely you have already heard of Livingston skatepark. Built in 1981, the design of the park was ahead of its time and made Scotland a bucket list destination for skaters around the world. Iain and Dee Urquhart, pioneers of the Scottish skate scene, are the reason the park became a reality. They travelled to California to research and make connections with the pro’s, ahead of starting on the infamous park back in Scotland. Iain was an architect and Dee was a keen skater in the 70’s. Once the park was up and running, the connections they made in Cali resulted in Steve Caballero and Mike McGill visiting to skate in 1982, and thousands of people flocking to Livi to watch them – footage shows a packed crowd by the bowl. Years later, Tony Hawk would come by too. Livi was buzzing, not only with international visitors but local skaters.
Flash forward to 2020, and the vibe has changed. It is still legendary for its design but also now, it’s grit, cracks, lumps and bumps. The original park is falling apart. A new documentary, available on BBC Scotland and Amazon Prime (USA, Japan) delves into the history of the park, with archived 8mm footage, and shows the next generation of skaters trying to reinvigorate Livi 40 years later. Parisa Urquhart who directed the film, alongside Ling Lee, is the niece of Iain. She set out to tell the history of the park, and ended up stumbling across the new generation of skaters making use of it. The Snagglerats are a crew of five/six year old skaters (Rudi, Mac and Poppie) who love Livi and want to keep it alive – they are driven around the whole of Scotland thanks to their mum’s Romany and Kerry, who are the most supportive of their skating. They are using their passion to get more people into skateboarding but also to save the park. Here Parisa and Romany tell us about the documentary and the fight to rejuvenate Livi.
Interview by Hannah Bailey
Photography by Hannah Bailey / @NeonStash
Parisa Urquhart:Tell us why Livingston skatepark aka Livi is legendary among skateboarders around the world?
Livingston, a planned ‘new town’ between Glasgow and Edinburgh, was in the throes of being built in the 1970s. It was to accommodate the overspill of people from slums in Glasgow and Edinburgh and amenities desperately needed to be built there. My uncle, Iain Urquhart, an award-winning Scottish architect, was working for the Livingston Development Corporation (LDC) at the time. Along with his wife, Dee Urquhart, they were pivotal in nurturing the Scottish skate scene in the 1970s, creating the Scottish Skateboard Association and creating the first ever Scottish skateboard magazines. Dee was one of very few Scottish female skateboarders in the ‘70s. Iain Urquhart’s architecture skills, knowledge of materials, attention to detail and dogged persistence made it happen. Iain and Dee made research trips to iconic Californian skateparks and other parks around Europe. The design of the bowl was ahead of its time and he designed and created a wooden ‘transition machine’, which we show in the documentary, that successfully created the perfect angle and smoothness of the bowl. He also tweaked the design of the half-pipe near to the final stages to make it flat-bottomed, enabling skaters to have the chance to prepare for their next trick.
This is what made Livi a properly designed skatepark in Scotland. The word then spread about how good Livi was. Pro-skaters Steve Caballero and Mike McGill ended up at the park in 1982. Approximately 2000 people flocked to Livi, it was blue sky and extremely warm, the boys loved skating the park and you can see it in the 8mm footage we show in the documentary. This event set the scene for generations of pro skaters, like Tony Hawk, and skaters in general travelling to Livi from around the world because it was so well-designed. It became a mecca for skaters and still is.
So, how has it been allowed to fall into disrepair?
It has been nearly 40 years since Livi was built. The bowls were successfully resurfaced in the late 80’s, coping was fitted and the smaller bowl was resurfaced more recently. But on the whole the original section is gnarly with a really rough surface, cracks, and holes. Money available over the years seems to have been spent on expanding the park but not much put into the iconic section. I haven’t been involved in the additional phases and resurfacing over the years but I am aware from speaking to local Livi skaters that it is crucial for skaters to be welcomed into the design and decision-making process to ensure what’s done works for skaters such as the Snagglerats.
Oh yes the Snagglerats, who we meet in the documentary, can you tell us about them?
The Snagglerats are three local girls – Poppie, Rudi and Mac – aged 6 to 7 who absolutely love skateboarding – especially at Livi. We followed the girls in the documentary and got a palpable sense of the emotional connection between them and their love for skateboarding. They are endearing and ambitious and created a mission when they called themselves the Snagglerats – to encourage as many girls and boys to skate – especially at Livi. It was also inspiring to see their mums, Kerry and Romany, support them in their mission. With the help of their mums and old school skaters, the girls have discovered Livi’s unique history and during the filming they had an unexpected chat with Tony Hawk that strengthens their determination.
So, can you tell us how the documentary Long Live Livi came about?
I found out about Iain and Dee’s involvement in the Scottish skate scene in 2018! I couldn’t believe it as I was an avid snowboarder and had worked in the snowboard industry so I knew a lot of skaters. So I started learning about this history and knew it was a story that needed to be told. I visited Livi a few times, spoke to locals and noticed these very young girls who were great at skating. I knew the way to tell the story of Livi was to interweave the history of Livi with this youngest generation that Livi is having an impact on. It shows that Livi is not dead and it will never die if you have people like the Snagglerats involved.
I won a commission with the Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) who had teamed up with Screen Scotland and BBC Scotland Channel to create an initiative called ‘Right Here’ for creative documentary makers. As my background was in journalistic documentaries I co-directed with the amazing Ling Lee, an award-winning creative director and editor that I had worked with in the past. She was fantastic to direct with. It was also a pleasure to work with producer Noe Mendelle from the Scottish Documentary Institute.
When can we see the documentary?Long Live Livi was broadcast on the BBC Scotland Channel in June and is available to watch on BBC iPlayer and plus has gone live on Amazon Prime in the US and Japan. Also, we have been posting photos and footage on our dedicated @Long_Live_Livi social media channels so please have a look.
Romany Morrice:Romany is the inspirational and supportive mum to Rudi and Mac of the Snagglerats. Alongside Poppie’s mum Kerry, she has been instrumental in the campaign to make Livi great again.
How did you first end up at Livi?
We live in West Lothian and Livi is legendary. I visited when I was younger with my brother and spent a lot of time skiving school down there. It was always buzzing and a good vibe – somewhere you felt like everyone is your pal and everyone got on. We had been visiting with the girls from when they first started having an interest in skating and now it is their favorite park. They have their favorite runs and favorite bits, they even have a favorite bush to hide in with Poppie.
Why do you feel strongly about encouraging Mac and Rudi to skate?
We want to raise our kids to be independent, compassionate free spirits but more importantly we want them to have good friends and folk that will look out for them. That is something that skateboarding can guarantee. I know when I leave my girls down there they will be safe, someone will have their backs and they will learn how to be decent people. There is so much pressure on teenagers and young adults to conform, especially young women. The thing I loved about skateboarding when I was young is that I could wake up, shove my old clothes on and get out. I never felt pressure to look good or to wear makeup or make an effort. I don’t want my kids to fall into that trap either. Skateboarding isn’t about (or shouldn’t be about) fashion or image. I don’t care if they can skate or not, all I want is for them to meet sound folk! Thankfully they both love to rip – so I just sit back and let them get on with it!
Why should people care about Livi and how can they help?
We have set up a fundraising page. We are hoping the money can be used to inject some life back into Livi without spoiling the heritage. So many people we have spoken to have great memories of the park and we don’t want to change anything, we just want to bring it back to its best. We don’t really know what that will look like because it won’t be our decision, we will be looking to speak to as many people as possible and put a working group together to ensure any changes are made and completed by the people who have Livis best interest at the forefront. The best thing you can do is to share your opinion and your expertise and also when you see kids at the park tell them about the history, tell them how great it is and make sure they have someone to look up to and show them park etiquette. We can’t leave the park to crumble, be destroyed or sold to developers so we need to make it a real destination again like it once was….. it’s what Livi deserves!
Long Live Livi is available on BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime (USA, Japan):
Support the Livingston Skatepark Regeneration project on Crowdfunder:
crowdfunder.co.uk/longlivelivi
Follow @Long_Live_Livi
Follow the Snagglerats: @rudi_and_mac @poppie_rocket_skategirl
