Wayne is one of London's longest standing 'OG' skaters. A true skate icon, loved and revered by many within the skate community. His skating talent, particularly as a speed skater [over nearly five decades] is second to none and truly inspiring to witness.
It has truly been an absolute pleasure to get to know Wayne personally and skate with him over the past few months. He's such a warm hearted person who's always happy to share insights, support and encouragement.
Watching Wayne skate, I've witnessed his discipline for the art of skating, passion and the boundless love he still has for skating [and our community as a whole]. He's a REAL people person. He was the first person I wanted to kick off my series of 7 questions with. He's not just a legend in the minds of so many skaters in the urban scene, he's truly a beautiful human being — one that I'm really happy to know.
"The love of skating keeps me going. I feel free to be creative. No one can put you in a box, you're free to express yourself. There are so many little things in life that can hold you back, but I just find that when I'm on my skates, I'm just free spirited."
~Wayne
7 Questions
Q.1: Tell me a little bit about how you got into roller skating.
"We used to go to this plantation house in Brownstone [back home in Jamaica], a place called Huntley. One of the caretakers there just gave us a pair of those one size fit the whole village, adjustable roller skates ...with metal wheels.
We we didn't know what we were doing.
So we just, use pieces of strings or banana strings or whatever we can find to tie them to our feet, because we used to walk bear feet. We had no clue what we're doing!
We were trying our best to learn to skate, you know, it was like in a yard where the dirt is dry, and on a very rough road. We did that for a few months, but then they just dissapeared. I think we were about 12 or 13.
When I came to England [around 18 or 19] I moved to Forestgate, and I started working this club called the Uppercut. I used to work in there, just collecting glasses and help clean it up. They started doing roller skating there, I see the guys doing there practise. When I saw this, my eyes start getting big, it captivated my attention — it was like that. Something just clicked. I just make a cheeky/fun comment, I said, oh, I'm gonna skate better than all of you! They were good skaters, experienced adults. I was just playing ...being cheeky! Anyway, within six months or so, I could skate better than all of them. I used to practise in the club before and after work, sometimes on my own.
Back then I couldn't afford to afford a pair of skates. But I know my cousin Erol used to have a pair of skates. He used to go starlight. You know what I mean? And he wasn't using them. He just gave me the skates. And then, because I used to work in the club and I had the keys, I used to be in there late at night, practicing like mad, you know what I mean?
We used to all go in the Queen's Market, down Green Street and Stratford Center, you know? And, yeah, and, that's that's how we all started. I used to skate with Seph, Selwyn and a few others [longstanding Hyde Park Skaters].
Then, I became a marshal, if you became a roller skate marshal in those days, you had to be a good skater to get the job. I worked in Harrow as a Marshall. I wasn't skating long before I became a martial which was pretty amazing. I was still improving at that point.
Back then, everyone used to come to me to find out what's happening."
➡️ Watch Video: Wayne Rhythm Skating
Q.2: What has kept you motivated to keep skating over so many decades?
"The love of skating keeps me going. I feel free to be creative. No one can put you in a box, you're free to express yourself. There are so many little things in life that can hold you back, but I just find that when I'm on my skates, I'm just free spirited. You can never stop learning in skating, there's alway something new. Sometimes unfiinished business— things that you were planning to do keeps you pushing forward. I used to watch some black and white jazz moves on TV, so yeah you know ...things like that.
I've been skating over 47 years now, or something like that."
➡️ See images of Wayne by Roland Ramanan
Q.3 Is there anything as a skater that you're still trying to achieve today?
"Not really, I just take it one step at a time. I never really went out to be like the best, I just wanted to have fun. Some of the people were really good, a lot of the girls back in my days were really really good skaters.
I've got many injuries now, so at the moment I'm told by doctors that im not supposed to skate because I'm loosing my muscles. Because of the pain in my back and my hip. I haven't been able skate for long periods at times, so my muscles are weaker. But basically, now I exercise my musles everyday. I do yoga — I just do it through the pain barrier just to keep me away from the knife."
Q.4: When you look back on your time as a skater, is there anything that you realise skating has taught you?
"Well erm, friendship. Being friends with lots of people. It teaches you many skills in life, to be aware of boundaries and how to communicate. Friendship is the biggest thing for me, I've met some wonderful people all over the world— Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland and some other places."
Q.5: If you had one roller skating memory to share that you're fond of, what would that be?
"One memory was when I was practising for a show at the Bloomsbury Theatre. I was practising for it in the old Stratford Shopping Centre, before they had doors on it— the police they coulld drive in there! I was practising a routine with a walking stick and a policeman came in and he sit down there for about half an hour watching me. And then he goes to me, "excuse me, you're not allowed to skate in here", and then he goes to me, "if anybofy tells you you can't, tell them I said that you can skate here." I thought he was gonna tell me to leave, but instead he said "it's amazing what you're doing" [laughter].
Q.6: What's your connection to Hyde Park?
"Ahh yes, before that, we were like nomads, were skating all over the place. We used to go to Battersea Park, from Batersea to Southbank were the skateboarders are, and we used to go to Kensigton Gardens, and Royal Albert Memorial.
One day, we even saw Princess Diana roller blading through Kensington Park. Kensington Palace was close by so... she looked like she was on her own, but probably her body guards were not too far behind. We jut saw her from a distance.
And then, I think it was in the late eightes that we used to hang out at Queensway, outside the ice rink. We also converted some of the ice skaters to come join us, and funnily enough, they never went back to iceskating!
It's funny because every week, the police used to keep chasing us. They just couldn't understand why groups of black guys were hanging around skating. They would chase us all the way down the street, on the road, and we would turn around in the traffic and loose them. As soon as they see a group of us, they start chasing.
One day I remember they were chasing us in the park and we start running, and my friend just stop and said "what?" ...it's like a dog who chases something, then one day when he catch it, he don't know what to do with it! [laughter] because they had no reason to chase us. Some of my friends would get arrested when they caught you and waste your time with court days. They used to cut our laces! It only stopped when they picked out one big tall guy and harrased him and took him dowm the police station, then the tourist went down there to protest. Afterwards, the superintendant came down to Trafalaga Square, and said "okay guys you can skate here" and from that day, everything was like, it's like the chain was taken off. Skating in Hyde Park really became a thing after that."
Q.7: Where do you feel you are now in your roller skating journey?
"I'm just watching the next generation take the batton. I want to see them make skating as big as skateboarding, take it all over the world. Get some proper recognition. That's what I'd love to see. I'm amazed at what the youngsters are doing, with social media and everything."
Kelly
Cranial Osteopath | Wellbeing Coach | Roller Skate Instructor
🗯️Share any thoughts you have on Wayne's 47 year long skate journey in the comments below.
