About 40 years ago at the height of the ’80s roller-skating craze, kids were skating in the Westbury Town Hall at the much-loved roller discos on a Friday night.
Now, in a resurgence of wheels on shoes, young and old are doing the same thing on a Wednesday night in the Westbury Community Centre.
Locals Meagen and Grant Woolley have started Westbury Skate, having loved skating as a family, with their three children at Deloraine in recent years.
Bringing it closer to home has involved organising insurance, council permissions and buying up possibly every pair of unused inline skates, padding and helmets on Marketplace and Gumtree.
They’re working the canteen, offering cheap, basic snacks and meals and supervising a whirlpool of skaters of all ages. Grant, whose day job is with TasWater, can be found skating around with ease, taking charge of fun games and giving out random prizes.
With the building also a training ground for roller derby when it’s not being used for basketball or badminton, he reckons there might be some future roller derby players among the skaters.
“There’s definitely a skating revival going on,” Grant said.
“Our kids have loved it since the first time they tried it, and we enjoy helping other kids get started,” he said.
“It’s proving to be a great way to get a physical and mental boost and get away from the dreaded devices. As a not-for-profit we simply want to recoup the running costs and watch everyone turning up and loving it.”
The cost for participants is a $15 annual membership fee and then $5 every Wednesday night (5-7pm) attended, with a maximum of $50 charged for a family membership and unlimited family members for $20 on skate night.
With some old tunes on the sound system and everyone strapped in to their skates, there are thrills, spills and tricky moves galore until everyone is exhausted.
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