APPENDIX H

Heritage Footage

Skating at 5 Bridges was extensively filmed across its four decades of use — first on VHS and 8mm in the bank-skating era, then on DV and early YouTube once the plaza opened in 2007, and on every platform from social-media reels to long-form pro edits through the 2010s and 2020s. This appendix collects a representative set of that footage, organised by decade. It sits alongside the photographs in § 1.1 and the community quotes in § 2.4.4; together they document the cultural weight that the Context & Need section argues from.

Jump to era

H.1 1980s – 2000s — Before the camera phone

Video documentation of 5 Bridges before the 2010s is sparse. VHS and 8mm cameras were expensive in the bank-skating era of the 1980s, and the 1990s underground scene was captured mainly through handicam productions like Jon Robson's Bag of Lovely (1990) and System Magazine edits — most of which have not made it online. The 2007 plaza build coincided with the DV-to-YouTube transition, but the bulk of filmed output dates from the early 2010s onwards. The pre-digital era is documented primarily through photographs and oral history in The Bloody Kids' Book (see § 1.1). Any footage that surfaces will be added here.

H.4 2010s — Pro visits and social-media reach

HD video, Instagram, and dedicated skate channels carried 5 Bridges footage to an international audience through the 2010s. Pro-rider edits, jam coverage, and the Shred The North community days are documented across the decade.

Blueprint 5 Bridges Demo (2010) — Blueprint Skateboards pro team demo at the plaza.
Digital Deekies 2nd Birthday Bash (2010) — jam montage at 5 Bridges.
Digital Deekies 3rd Birthday Jam (2011) — annual jam at 5 Bridges.
5 Bridges Newcastle Skatepark (2011) — rollerbladers escaping the rain.
Newcastle ~ 04/01/13 – 05/01/13 (2013) — winter session at 5 Bridges.
Emerica Made in UK Tour, Newcastle (2013) — pro team stop at 5 Bridges.
Emerica Demo at 5 Bridges, Gateshead (2013) — pro demo session.
5 Bridges Throwaway (2013) — skateboard edit.
RE EDIT — Rainy Day 5 Bridges (2016) — skateboard edit.
Steve ‘Bingo’ Binks Memorial Jam (2017) — community tribute session.
DUB x NSFYC Jam (2018) — BMX jam at 5 Bridges.

H.5 2020s — Final years and farewell

Footage from the final years before the 2025 closure, including farewell sessions and community tributes once closure was announced. This era's footage carries particular weight as the documentary record of what was lost.

5 Bridges Gateshead (2023) — session footage.
Treatment Skateboards at 5 Bridges (2024) — local brand edit.
Last Day at 5 Bridges Skatepark Gateshead (2025) — farewell session before closure.

Credits & attribution

Videos are embedded from YouTube. All rights remain with the original uploaders / filmmakers. Where a filmmaker or production is named in a caption, that's the attribution; please contact Shred The North if you would like credit added, corrected, or removed from any clip listed here.

New footage to add to the archive can be sent via the same contact route. The page is designed to grow over time: each new clip slots into the appropriate era section using the template in the inline comment at the top of this page's source.