if you enjoyed our footage from the ladies of Camp WeSC last week, watch this edit from all of the WeSC campers during the first week of summer down at Camp Hillcrest in Chepstow, Wales.
Footage from weeks two and three to come!
WWW.CAMPWESCUK.COM // @CampWeSCUK
Today, is International Day of Peace, first observed in 1982 and sometimes unofficially referred to as World Peace Day. It is a day that is recognised globally, as a time to cease fire – whether personally or politically.
The theme of this year’s commemoration is: “Partnerships for Peace – Dignity for All” which aims to highlight the importance of all segments of society to work together to strive for peace.
Today we would like to celebrate Skateistan, a program we follow closely across its platforms. Situated in Kabul, a city ravaged by ongoing wars lies an important program of the children of Afghanistan.
With over 40% of its students being female, learning and skating at the school each week, Skateistan really is a one of a kind program for Kabul and skaters worldwide.
In 2013 Skateistan won the award for “Peace and Sport” – Over 5,000 people voted to elect the winning image (pictured below) which got nearly 60% of the total votes!
Joel Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport, announced: “This picture is particularly outstanding. It tells us better than a thousand words that sport is a universal language understood by children around the world, capable of building bridges for understanding and friendship between peoples...”
He stated that this photo shows how skateboarding, “acts as a genuine vehicle for peace education, as well as encouraging gender equality and inter-cultural understanding in Afghanistan.”
In the true spirit of Peace Day, events at Skateistan give students a chance to interact, forge new friendships, and promote peace, tolerance, and respect for children all over the world.
These amazing organizations have used skating as an empowerment tool to reaching out to young Afghan youths, breaking social barriers and educating them on making decisions on issues that affect them.
Have a look at this short student produced film about Peace from the skaters of Afghanistan…
Our thoughts today are also with the current humanitarian crisis and refugees fleeing the war torn Syria. Millions of people have walked hundreds of miles, travelled across land and water in hope to place their families in safer surroundings.
We are incredibly lucky simply to live where we do and mustn’t take our comparatively peaceful lives for granted.
So, as The United Nations invites ALL nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities during the Day, we also ask you to forget all of your quabbles and set aside your differences amongst your family, friends or work colleagues for one day.
Who will you make Peace with today?
For more information on Skateistan check out their website http://www.skateistan.org
And to donate to the Syrian child refugees, http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/about-us/emergencies/syria-appeal
Camp WeSC is the UK’s only week long residential skateboard only camp, for just £380 you can spend 5 days and 4 nights down at picturesque Chepstow in Wales, skating with pro’s and taking home a goody bag worth over £250!
For three whole weeks in August, we did just that, hitting up some of the best skateparks in the country. This years coaches were pretty much the UK’s girl dream team, including Josie Millard, Helena Long and Zeta Rush!
Watch our edit below, also featuring campers and mini rippers Zara Cosgrove, Maisie Kelly, Emily Holt, Lauren Davies and Olivia Thomas!
We spent our mornings skating a hidden indoor concrete bowl deep in the heart of the Forest of Dean before heading out to the new Monmouth spot and incredible Cirencester skatepark in the afternoons.
Evenings were spent round the campfire, cooking up burgers on the BBQ, making pizzas (from scratch!) in the outdoor clay pizza oven, spray painting workshops and watching films in the mini ramp cinema room!
Night time skates at Hereford plaza were popular… we managed to get hold of a key for the floodlights so would stay until the first camper started to fall asleep.
On the last night we had a big BBQ party round the campfire for Kierans birthday, with midnight games of skates in the bowl and once we had sent all of the campers to bed, the coaches climbed in to the huge woodfired hot tub for a little down time before the long journey back home the next evening.
It was an amazing few weeks and huge thanks to all of the camp and venue staff, campers, sponsors, drivers, filmers, tea makers and everybody else involved!
Huge gallery of photos to come and loads more footage too so keep checking back!
Check out www.campwescuk.com for more info or to book yourself on to one of next years camps.
(There is an April Easter camp in Hull too!)
@CampWeSCUK
SATURDAY 10TH OCTOBER 2015 // 3pm – 3am // HOUSE OF VANS LONDON
Following a hugely successful 2014 which saw the festival sell out, FESTIFEEL returns for the sixth time and we are stoked to be involved with this years event at the House Of Vans in London’s Waterloo.
There is a great line up for this year including the likes of Mike Skinner, Everything Everything, Lucy Rose and Eaves alongside Slaves, Billie Marten, Woman’s Hour, Reef and Danny Howard!
We have even gathered up a team of lady shredders that will be skating around doing their thing for the day/evening(/early hours!) So make sure you come along to listen to some good music and watch some rad skating.
We will also be hosting our own Girl Skate UK Coaching session for an hour – Time to be confirmed but please BRING YOUR OWN BOARDS!
Curated by CoppaFeel! patron Fearne Cotton and produced by breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel! FESTIFEEL is Britain’s only boutique music festival with boobs in mind. This year signals the final stop of their UK festival takeover – which sees CoppaFeel! travel the country on their Summer Boob Tour to bring the breast cancer conversation to thousands of young people.
This year, CoppaFeel! have partnered with VANS, with the event taking place at their House of Vans venue in Waterloo, London. Spanning over 30,000sq ft, this year’s festival will host a sublime selection of live bands, DJs, spoken word, film and comedy; not to mention a plethora of festival vibes throughout the venue.
Curator, Fearne Cotton said: “Festifeel is back, bigger than ever and I can’t wait to be involved again! The bands and artists I ask to play are always so excited to get involved, but more importantly to get behind CoppaFeel!’s life-saving message and work. I have been patron of CoppaFeel! for 4 years now and have loved watching it grow from strength to strength. Bring on the FUN!”
CoppaFeel! was founded in October 2009 by Kristin Hallenga – who herself was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer at 23. The charity educates young people on the importance of checking their boobs regularly and knowing the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. CoppaFeel! aim to deliver their message in innovative and memorable ways.
Last year’s event, held at London Fields Brewery played host to headliners Rizzle Kicks and Zane Lowe, plus Lianne La Havas, Nick Mulvey, Rhodes, and Fickle Friends.
CoppaFeel! aims to stamp out late detection and misdiagnosis of breast cancer by ensuring that people know that signs and symptoms of breast cancer, know what their boobs look and feel like normally, check their boobs regularly throughout their lifetime and have the confidence to seek medical referral when they detect abnormalities. Currently 5% of diagnosed cases are already at stage IV with breast cancer being the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in women under 30 in the U (181 new cases diagnosed and 12 deaths annually). CoppaFeel! strives for a country where no one dies of breast cancer because of late detection or misdiagnosis. The charity receives no government funding and relies solely on voluntary donations.
About Kris: After being diagnosed at the age of 23, Kristin decided it was time to flip the switch on breast cancer awareness and bring it to the forefront of young people’s attention.
One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some stage in their life.
CoppaFeel! is all about getting the message out that the sooner we get feeling, the sooner we become best chums with our boobies and the sooner we will spot any changes. She recently created a documentary with October Films which was shown on BBC Three titled ‘Kris – Dying to Live’.
Tickets are available to purchase now via. DICE (available to download on the App Store and Google Play).
For further information: http://www.festifeel.com // http://www.coppafeel.org @CoppaFeelPeople #festifeel
For those of you a little too North of Broadstairs to make our Revolution Girls Skate Jam on Sunday September 27th, then fear not as Manchester is hosting its very own ‘Wild In The Streets’
Emerica’s Wild in the Streets gathers skateboarders of every age to converge on city streets around the world in the celebration of pure skateboarding.
The event is back in the UK, taking over the industrial epicenter of the world – Manchester, for a day of street skating and mayhem.
Meet at Urbis at 1pm and get ready to descend upon the city and skate wild through the streets hitting some classic Manc spots along the way!
There will be prizes, challenges and special guests so don’t miss out.
Have fun!
The Guardian got in touch with us a few months ago, seeking a new face for the UK Gap Kids x Ellen Degeneres Collection. They had to be strong, brave, and to be able to overcome the odds… We knew just the person.
We’ve known Georgia for a couple of years now, giving her skate lessons at the House Skatepark in Sheffield every week. Georgia quickly found her own feet and was competing around the country in no time. We absolutely love seeing Georgia progress and doing so well with skateboarding. For this little girl, skateboarding really has changed her life.
Read Georgia’s story in the Guardian below…
‘It was a fall that would end in triumph, not disaster. “She stood on the edge of the precipice and then dropped for what seemed like an eternity: my heart was in my mouth.” Julie Scott is describing the moment her 10-year-old daughter, Georgia-Rose, plummeted through the air in front of her eyes, drawing gasps from a gathered crowd.
Georgia-Rose wasn’t taking an untimely tumble – she was “dropping in” on her skateboard, competing in the UK Independent Vert Series. And the crowd’s gasps weren’t ones of anxiety, but awe, as she successfully skated one of the UK’s highest vertical ramps at Blackpool’s Ramp City Skatepark.
Watching their child leap from a four-metre-high wall on a plank with wheels would give any mother palpitations, but this plunge carried a heightened level of risk, because Georgia-Rose is visually impaired. Born with congenital nystagmus, and registered as partially sighted, Georgia-Rose has been told she’ll never be able to drive a car, but in all other aspects of life, her foot is firmly on the gas.
The Leeds skater discovered her love and natural ability for the sport after tagging along to her brother’s lesson just two years ago. It was a day that would change her life.
“I used to get bullied about my eyes,” says Georgia-Rose, who experiences involuntary eye movement and blurred vision as a result of her condition. “It really affected my confidence, but being part of the skateboarding community has made me feel accepted for who I am. It’s like a big family and everyone’s welcome, whoever you are.”
“GapKids’ latest campaign GIRL with Ellen DeGeneres features modern girls who are reaching their dreams and igniting change. Girl empowerment begins with us all.”
With her impressive passion, positivity and determination, Georgia-Rose is inspiring young people around the globe through GapKids ED, the new children’s collection for Gap by Ellen DeGeneres, which celebrates girls, encouraging them to embrace their individuality and achieve the extraordinary.
With boards often considered to be toys for the boys, Georgia-Rose is on a mission to help more girls and kids with disabilities take up skating. “Some people think that others will laugh at them if they can’t do it, but I want to show them that anyone can do anything if they really want to. You just need to have the courage to try and commit to it.”
When she’s not hitting the half pipe, Georgia-Rose keeps a journal of her aspirations, goals and poems. She says: “Poetry has helped me to become the person I really want to be.”
The Gap Kids x ED collection is for doers, dancers and dreamers, bikers, boarders and builders – the GapKids ED collection is empowering girls everywhere. A collaboration with Ellen DeGeneres’ new lifestyle brand – available at Gap stores and online at gap.co.uk/ed
girlskateuk.com