Meanwhile gardens circa 1984ish?

[nicklambo]

Just a couple of pics of meanwhile gardens from the old days, i'ms ure it's a block of flats by now but in the day there was a large 4 foot bowl which went up to about 7 foot at one point with an old board hammered on top of that to make 11 foot, we then tried to smooth it out and put a bit of ply on top and a platform (I can remember Jason Hassel flying right over the top and landing upside down in a bush on the other side)...not the best skatepark but it was quite near home..later on we built the ramp at Meanwhile under the A40 that stayed nice and dry in our lovely summer/winter seasons!

  82?? Kuwahara

   83 Quadangle

  84 Quadangle...the ramp is below me, the bit behind was like a kickboard that went another 4 foot that you could foot plant on ( it was only about two foot wide)

[Sean 2000]

Eh! Where's the A40 then......dont tell me it hadnt bin built yet?

Kool pics Nick, nice quad aswell mate.

Sean.

[nicklambo]

HAHA...No the ramp was built down the road...we still called it meanwhile...great ramp....Jason Hassel, Lee Reynolds, Greg Guillotte..it was our local hangout..I remember BMX Action bike came down to do a piece on the ramp and we were still building it when they arrived...Jason was the first to ride it and for some reason it seemed to be a great ramp, everyone loved it and back then no one had anywhere indoors to ride so it gave us somewhere to go when the weather was not so good.



Lee at 10Feet!!..around 1987



Greg at 9 feet...one footer.

Both these guys used to shred at the ramp...used to be a good crowd...Andy Brown (don't mention the slam), jon Pover, soory guys my memory has gone soft, can't remember all of your names!

[rosscoe]

great photies - and a great reminder of how good Lee and Greg were back then.

[stuntmaster]

hi
great pics there bring back some great memories  , i used  to ride back then and yep meanwhile gds is still there but has been redone . i started riding meanwhile 2 when there was only 1 ramp as the skater had abused the other one . had some great time at meanwhile and learn to ride as well as nice and undercover just watch out for the taxers . the last person i saw that rode back then at meanwhile was doug who always had a bling bmx

[Flatcap]

Cool pics, forgot all about that place!

Never went there but certainly remember it getting mentioned loads of times.

 

[Ramp Rat]

Great shots...Meanwhile was my first visit to a skatepark on a bike I think? Remember seeing Errol getting wheels out of the wooden plank. That was the begining of the journey for me. Lee Reynolds, Jason Hassel, Greg, Andy Brown, John Pover, they all shredded that q- pipe at meanwhile . 10 ft wow.

[MartyC]

The one by Royal Oak station under the A40 was known bitd as Meanwhile II, skated and rode both places extensively myself  - spent most of the winters skating and riding at Meanwhile II from 1978 to 1981 

Nick you got any photo's of the concrete bmx track they built at Meanwhile, the 2ft high concrete whoops that went up at 45 degrees and looked like a pair of concrete toblerones 

[TwoBobRob]

You must have known Marco Lara?  He rode at Meanwhile regularly along with my hero, an unknown called Steven Dalet?   I had a few good sessions there with those two and their gang   

[stuntmaster]

any more pics nick as great to see and i most probably met you as knew all the rest of crew that rode meanwhile 2
was marco lara and steven dalet the two guys that came from over canterbury way as they were cool riders if same peeps

[brass monkey!]

great pics mate !

any more

[Stodgy]

Lovely pics. We want more!!!

[TwoBobRob]

was marco lara and steven dalet the two guys that came from over canterbury way as they were cool riders if same peeps

Nah.  They were locals to Meanwhile I believe.  Marco was Colombian and had quite poor but very comical english.  Steven was (I'm guessing) a mixed race lad, very quiet. Very technical rider even way back then.  They spent a lot of time at Rom, which is where we met them.

[Flaz]

marco lived down near the cally north london

proper hero of mine (and everyone in nrth london 81 82 )   mad as a hatter, balls the size of beach balls 

where are you marco lara you should be on rad?

 

[TwoBobRob]

Marco has been back to Rom with his son. He was on a fully tricked out newschool Ripper  (marco, not the son). Must have been around 97-98.  He promised me he'd come and ride regularly but never made it back.

Steven Dalet was an inspiration to me. He turned up one day with an innertube tied around his seat.....  'whats that for?'

'These' came the reply.  He then went on to show me suicide no hander blunts and kickturns.  Helped him to grip the seat with his knees   

This would have been 82 or 83.  Unheard of at that time.   

[Flaz]

everyone goes on about how the new school bikes have thier seats so low

marco lara used to take his seat completly out  in the bowl at kentish town so he could get more height bunny hoping out of the bowl   (dont ever remember seeing any one else do that bitd)

 

[TwoBobRob]

He did a lot of things that others didn't   

Like actually getting one of those motomag mongooses actually off the ground 

Did you ride Rom with him Flaz?   Remember the end of session follow the leader games?  Marco screaming at the top of his voice  'barumbo barumbo, no brakes, no brakes' in that funky accent of his as he tore around the park at about 100 mph.