Roller Disco at Bagley's Studio

Dave and Treen from Flint Communications organised a Roller Disco at Bagley's studio on March 24th, 2001.  Excellent idea - many people were interested in the idea of this disco, and there don't seem to be many occasions like this available in London.

Here's a jpg image of their flyer, supplied to me by Treen.

We went along quite late as we'd been skating in Hyde Park first, and then grabbed some MacD's for lunch.  First problem - the place was really hard to find - a map with directions would be really useful next time.  Once we did find the place the few "Roller Disco this way" signs were hard to read.  Parking was not really a problem - there were quite a few cars around, but plenty of room.  If the event ever gets really busy, parking space might run out, though.

Once inside - awesome fun!  There was a really great atmosphere, reasonable music, and three areas to hang out in.  The first dance floor was mainly taken up by people putting on skates, and was where the "cloakroom" and skate hire area was to be found.  Cloakroom was being charged at one pound an item, and skate hire was two pounds for an hour, or five pounds for the day, provided by the Streatham Skate Shop.

The next dance floor, in the middle, and designated the main floor, played mostly 70s and 80s music.  Some of the Starlight Express crew came along here and did some demonstrations - great fun, and it was really appreciated by the crowd.  The final floor was at the end, and much louder with more modern music.  Also good, with a large table in the middle.  The table took away some of the skating space, but it also ensured that people flowed around the room a little better.

There was quite a lot of ice rink syndrome, with people skating round and round.  I guess this is safer, but it does show how we've been conditioned to do this by years of ice rink "discipline".  I'm surprised I didn't see many people doing stunts on the tables, although a couple of aggressive skaters were doing jumps in the first dance floor area at one point.  Good stuff!

To me, the crowd seemed made up of two main groups - major party people who wanted to do the next fun thing in London, and were not serious skaters, and then the more dedicated skaters, including some of the Hyde Park Posse.  This roller disco was a brilliant idea, and I'll definitely go to the next one.

Sorry about only taking so few photos - my batteries ran out.  Next time some more!

The Good:

Great atmosphere, good idea, and well received.

Lots of friendly skaters.  I saw quite a few people fall over or crash into someone else, but every incident I saw was accompanied with smiles and a helping hand.

The Bad:

The venue was a little on the small side - I feel it would have been much better in a bigger hall, such as any of the leisure centres could provide.  Because of this there was no way you could build up any speed at all - you were forced to go at what for skaters is the speed of walking in a packed-out underground station.  The number of people was just about right, though.

Spilled drinks.  Lots of people fell on wet areas.  For the next disco I believe it's essential to concentrate on the drying up of wet areas.  If this had been on ice, the water wouldn't have mattered at all, but wet surfaces and wheels just don't mix.

Dave Curtis, from our London_Skaters discussion list at Yahoo Groups, posted this message relating to what he thought about the disco:

Well, that was fun.

I already gave some feedback to the girl on the door, which was:

Don't have blocks in the middle of rooms - go for maximising the
amount of space.

Be really assiduous about mopping up wet patches immediately (with a
dry mop, not a wet one) - these caused a few spills for me.

I forgot to say, but I think a no smoking while skating rule would be
sensible - a lit cigarette brushing on your arm is pretty painful
IMHO.

Any other thoughts?

Delighted to hear there will be another one as soon as April 30th -
hope to be there.

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