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Skating in an old church

old-church-skate

What does a surfer when there is no surf? Exactly. Other cool stuff like skating. Not anywhere but in an old church. This church is manages by the Church Brigade and is located in the industrial area of Asipo, Asturias. Jernest is heart and brain of the project

old-church-skate

How to get around to own a church?

By a family owned business. It was possible because it was private property and not church property. Through local industrialists initiative the church was built in 1912. They wanted to provide a service to the workers of the Santa Bárbara fabrics. Beside the church there was a hostel and a school for the workers families. After the Spanish civil war the fabric was closed and the property remained unused. In the 1960ies the property was bought to build an industrial area. All buildings were torn down.

Well, all building minus the church.  

Exactly, only the church survived. In 206 or 207 we bought it to start a business. In the end the economic crisis stopped our project by financial problems. One day I was hanging out with some skater friends of mine and just said “Hey dude, let´s built a pipe here now that we own it and on top it’s a covered space.” And so it started.

When did you put up the first pipe?  

In 2012. A friend of mine (Fatius) brought an old broken pipe that he had in his skate shop in Mieres. So we put it here. Little by little we got the money together to buy some materials and reconstruct the pipe.

You had any kind of support?  

No, none. We got together, organized us and raised the money. The project is still in the beginning. One day we want to have several modules here not only the one pipe we have now.

skating-old-church

Besides skating you organize some events here, right?

Well a little bit, the problem is hat we cannot afford the insurance. So we are not allowed to do big things here. Every time we try the police come. But sometime we do BBQs here or concerts or parties with DJs. Sometimes we even do small skate contests supported by local skate shops.

Can everyone come to skate here?  

Yes for sure! It is not a public property so you would have to notice in advance. But everyone it invited to visit and skate here in Asturias.

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