Meet the skate mums fighting to save their concrete jungle

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]Meet the skate moms.

[00:00:02]With thousands of followers online, [music] they meet up in real life once a month. Offspring welcome. And much like life, when you fall down, it's all about picking yourself up again. Nesha's 52 and has two kids. What do your kids think about their mom being a skate mom?

[00:00:17]>> My children um actually stopped going to the skate park.

[00:00:21]>> [laughter] >> They think that they didn't think it was cool, but now they actually do secretly think it's cool. My daughter has started skateboarding again.

[00:00:30]Um and you know, it's just really lovely to share that space and that joy with her. For me, skateboarding is therapy.

[00:00:37]When I feel overwhelmed, when I feel stressed, it's the place that I go to to reset.

[00:00:46]They gave me a board.

[00:00:48]I stood on it and I mean, I haven't come off it, to be honest. [laughter] And how does this rank in terms of the best things you've done in your life?

[00:00:56]Where do you put skateboarding? Um right at the top.

[00:01:00]Sorry, kids.

[00:01:01]>> [laughter] >> This army of moms are part of an exhibition at London's Southbank Centre.

[00:01:07]Buried underneath the concrete here, the spiritual home of British skateboarding turns 50 this year. The exhibition takes you on a trip from the 70s punk scene, when skaters were rebels of the underground. Over the years, they fought to save this concrete jungle from developers. The forces of gentrification and and capitalism and all those bad things uh that constantly attack community spaces. They're not valued in the same way. That's the genius of skateboarders.

[00:01:32]It's It's about reclaiming space. With community spaces under threat, this place is sacred.