ERIC PAGE

When did you start skating?

When I was 20, 30+ years ago. Just after I moved to Brighton.

What attracted you to the activity?

Ha, I was travelling in Canada and had a fling with an ice hockey player who had the most amazing muscular thighs, huge legs, and solid bubble butt. He had a pair of ‘dry skates’ that he used in the summer months, new things called ‘inline skates’ and he taught me how to skate in them. When I got back to the UK I imported a pair, I wanted legs like his. The skates cost a fortune and that encouraged me to use them, learning at night secretly down the Marina, until I could skate with confidence. Took me a long winter but the next spring I was ready to roll.

How long have you been skating?

I’ve skated my whole adult life. It gives me a freedom I don’t feel anywhere else. I’m disconnected from friction, I can glide and go wherever I like on a whim, fast. It also allows me to be both exquisitely camp and athletically strong at the same time – it’s very low impact on the body. I can express my essential gracefulness. It’s allowed me to meet people and have some interesting viewpoints on the places I visit. I’d encourage anyone to learn, it’s a graceful, easy way to keep fit and Brighton is an excellent place to skate.

What effect do you find skating has on your mental health?

It has given me the space to think, to let my mind wander, to dump my tension, to glide outside, no one can catch me! It’s my go-to for stress relief. I can be out on my own, get out of the city in moments, flashing like a salmon on wheels through the crowds, doing my own thing. My wheels gave me the confidence to express my camp and silly side and to have wonderful experiences on my wheels: skated naked across the Golden Gate Bridge, dragged in drag by the Dykes on Bikes down Park Lane, a thrilling midnight skate run through the streets of Paris dressed as rabbits, thundering around Bogotá’s streets in a tight formation, marshalled lethal Lesbian Roller Derby events and spent many glorious nights on my own, listening to opera, gliding along Brighton seafront, smiling, flirting and being an OUT silver-haired thick lump of Welshman in his tightest shorts rolling along the prom, dancing with the moon. A rolling Rusalka.

Are you part of a community of skaters?

I’m part of the Brighton Skate Night group, a big group of fully inclusive skaters from across Sussex (and London). We skate together with our cycling sound system across the city regularly. All ages, all skill levels and plenty of LGBTQ+ skaters too, very friendly bunch, join us… They also attend skate nights in other cities, London and Portsmouth and across Europe, Madrid, Paris and Berlin and have family roller-skating events in King Alfred and Sussex leisure centres.