Photos by Danny Parker - Interview by Leo Sharp.
Growing up near Newquay, I guess skateboarding was always quite visible. Do you remember the first time you saw someone skate?
My Uncle Dave (‘Bricktop’ Rickard) always skated. I had a Penny board when I was a kid, so I’d always skate around, but I never tried tricks. I remember Dave being the ‘cool uncle’ who skated; he’s been skating since he was little.
Dave was part of the original Wooden Waves crew, wasn’t he?
Yeah, he was there from the beginning. Dave took me in from care when I was 15; he gave me that first board, and it changed my whole life.
And how old are you now?
20. I’ve been skating for five whole years (laughs).
I remember Dave showing me phone clips of you skating years ago, grinding the kinked ledge at Wooden Waves.
That’s the first clip on my Instagram; it was 2016. I’d never skated before; I lived in Cardiff in care at the time, and I came down on holiday to see Dave. I did that fifty-fifty along the kinked box by the mini ramp, and it literally took me six hours. My carers were at my nan’s house waiting to take me back to Cardiff, and I was down the skatepark in Newquay trying to do this fifty-fifty on someone else’s board (laughs).
Once you’d been bitten by the skate bug, did you move to Newquay straight away?
It was within a couple of weeks. Dave took me in and I moved back down here. I went back to school, and was skating every single day. We’d skate Wooden Waves, and we had Youthy (DIY spot) back then too.
In the relative calm of deserted Newquay town, Bethany brightens up an otherwise somber sidestreet with a sanguine switch noseslide.
How much of an impact do you think Wooden Waves being replaced with Concrete Waves has had on your skating, and the local scene?
I personally would have Wooden Waves back any day over Concrete Waves, and I think it’s the case for a lot of the locals. I don’t think the skatepark itself is what you love about it; it’s the place. Obviously Concrete Waves is insane - we’ve all got better because of it - but Wooden Waves was ours. It was our park, and it felt like no one could take that away from us…then they did take that away from us (laughs). There was no one ever there, there were no scooter kids, the car park was always empty, and no skaters would ever come to visit. Even though it was haggard and the nails were hanging out of it, every day we had fun and games. A lot of the people that used to skate there, they don’t skate any more. It was the crew, the place, and everything about it that made it special, and that changed a lot when we got the new park, you know?
Can you tell us about the boom in female skateboarders in and around the Newquay area please? How has the scene grown, and when did you start to notice a change?
I always remember Ocea (White) from St Ives, she was skating when I started skating, but when we got Concrete Waves, all of the younger lads that skated, all of their sisters started coming down, so I started doing skate lessons for girls in the summer. I’ve got five or six girls now that absolutely smash it, and they’re skating every single day. The girls are finally realising that skating isn’t something that only boys do. You can do anything if you love it, and believe in it.
I didn’t even realise you did skate lessons; that’s amazing.
I don’t do them during the summertime because there are too many tourists, but in the winter, I’ll shut off bits of the park and give girls lessons. I’ve done group sessions, to get all of the individual girls I teach together, so that when I’m not there, they can still meet up and skate together as well, which is cool to see. Now it’s getting a bit quieter I can start them up again.
Wooden Waves was our park, and it felt like no one could take it away from us..
Have you been getting to many events this summer?
Scum invited me and Jake (Sparham) up to the Rock Park Slamma at Barnstaple. There were so many girls there, but in the beginning they were pretty anxious, so I said, “we’re going to have a girl’s jam; it’s going to happen, and we’re all going to skate”. One of the girls came over and said they were all too nervous to have a girl’s jam, and asked if I’d be ok skating with the boys. I said, “I don’t care if I skate with the boys, but I want the girls to skate, and enjoy it”. I told them, “as long as you go out there and skate, then you come back and you’re smiling when you sit down, it doesn’t matter what you do”. We did the jam, the girl went and did a shove-it, she came back and she was smiling the whole time. That’s exactly what I meant; you don’t have to do anything to have a laugh, do you?
Not at all! Have you had much experience with skating in jams and competitions before?
I entered the National Champs; that was terrifying. I did awful and I couldn’t really land anything. I was shaking the whole time; it was horrible. I skate because I love to skate, and that pressure doesn’t make me feel like I love skating. I hit my head in the morning before it, and my bushings broke immediately before the comp, so Eddie (Belvedere) had to change my bushings literally two seconds before we went live, then I was the first person in. I was like, “this literally could not go any more wrong” (laughs). When I go to the park to skate, I don’t think, “I’m going to go there, then I’m going to go there”; I just skate. But when you do competitions like that, you have to plan it, and that’s why I think I don’t land tricks, because I’m thinking about the next trick I need to be doing, instead of what I’m doing now.
Frontside boneless from the loading bay to the incline, avoiding some Kernow crust as she goes.
What do you want to do in 2022 with your skating?
I’m pretty happy doing what I’m doing now. As long as I’m happy and I’m still skating…I don’t have any plans. Obviously I want to skate and travel, but I’m a support worker, and I work quite a lot.
That’s not the sort of work you can just up and leave for a few weeks! Can you tell us about that?
I support young autistic adults at a residential home in Newquay; we’ve got nine residents aged from 21 to 49, and they’ve got autism and learning difficulties. I am trying to help them live a more sustainable life. So if they want a cup of tea, instead of making it for them, we teach them how to do it, even if you have to break it down into ten steps, at least they can then accomplish that themselves. We go bodyboarding, swimming, we go to the cinema, we do all kind of stuff. It’s hard work, but I absolutely love it.
Lastly, which local would you name ‘Cornish Skater of the Year 2021’, and why?
Rosie (Kliskey). I am overly proud of that girl, completely and utterly. She has done nothing but surprise me with everything that she’s done this year. I have the most respect and love for her that I could have for anyone. She’s pushed herself so much; she’s incredible.
Follow Bethany - @bethany_rickard
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