I came to skateboarding quite late really at 18; most people have already given up by that age. At that time I lived in north Devon and Bristol was the desired destination for skate missions as it had a status in the national skateboarding community - Eric Dressen lists it in his top 5 cities to skate - enough said! If I’m honest, I felt slightly intimidated by the place at first because I associated it with the upper echelons of skateboarding. I had a sort of childish fear that I would be a really bad skater in the company of some the best skaters in the country and they would all stand in a ring, taunting me.

However, one day I bit the bullet and I haven’t looked back since: A group of us had come up to Bristol for the St Paul’s Carnival and stayed with someone in Bedminster. The day after the Carnival and with an afternoon to burn, the guy whose house it was told me of a skatepark just down the road. I had no board with me but the bloke downstairs had a Santa Cruz Everslick, so I borrowed that. Armed with a vague set of directions, I headed out to find the park. I was scared and completely lost within minutes, being the wide-eyed country boy that I am, but amazingly I eventually walked through the gates of the old Dame Emily Skatepark. It is now the Dean Lane Skatepark and has a completely different setup, but back then it was the craziest thing I had ever seen.

There were a few kids on boards rolling around, not the scary crew of punks and pros that I was expecting, and I started to skate around, hitting the bank with trepidation but feeling OK and not making a fool of myself. Shortly afterwards a few people started to arrive, older and better - much better. One of them was the legendary Spex! Ask anyone associated with skating in Bristol who he is and you’ll get the same answer: LEGEND! I started skating with them but like I’d feared, no-one made me feel bad. In fact, I felt good. I started to copy some of their lines and found a bit of flow. I did a kick-flip out of the bowl and I got a “Yeah!” from everyone. I will never forget that feeling. It’s still as vivid a memory now as it was the day after it happened, 16 years on. I spent the entire day skating and chatting with the people I met there, hearing stories about the place and exploits of various characters in the city. It was one of the best days of my life.

I learned a secret that day and it’s a secret every skater should know: Skating is a very exclusive club but it’s easy to join. All you have to do is skate. Seriously, that’s it. No matter what your level is, as long as you’re skating you’re in and automatically accepted by everyone else. You should never feel embarrassed to skate because you don’t think you’re good enough or whatever, the fact that you do it is all that matters.

I now live in Bristol and skate at this city’s many lovely skateparks and spots. I’ve met tons of people through skating and these days I take my son and his mates with me. We roll around with smiles on our faces because we all know the secret. We love skateboarding!

Gustave Savy