Left: Berwick’sBy Rebecca Fraser
WHILE roller skating rinks seem to be a dying breed, one local skater has enjoyed more than five decades of this once popular pastime.
Barrie Gerrand, 70, of Berwick has been a regular roller skater and blader since he was 12 years old and visits the Dandenong Skate Centre in Plunkett Road at least once a week.
But the retired pharmacist concedes that his long love affair with the rink is almost over and he will soon have to hang up his skates.
The avid skater is also fond of a ski but said he is in need of a hip replacement and may have to trade the roller ring for the snowfields in the near future.
“I am just about finished with skating and have done enough,” he said.
Mr Gerrand said he first fell in love with iceskating as a small boy before moving on to rollerskating and blading.
He said he had always preferred the rink to the road and took up skating because he was not very good at ball sports.
“Asphalt and roads always cause holes in the trousers, blood and skin scrapes.
“I have had one or two spills in my time and things can be a bit tricky.
“Skating on the roads is a bit awkward and dangerous I mean I have done it before but I always like the rink,” he said.
Mr Gerrand said he often came down to the Dandenong Skate Centre and found he was the only skater.
“It is nice sometimes to have the rink to yourself and do your own thing but I do not mind when there are kids there too.
“It is good practice as it gives me someone to dodge,” he said.
John Brogan has owned and operated the Dandenong Skate Centre for more than 20 years and said people like Mr Gerrand often gave him a call and came down and were able to have a skate by themselves.
But Mr Brogan said it was now mainly families that came in to skate and young people were no longer attracted to the pastime.
“It’s so hard to get kids out at night and away from the Xbox and the TV.
“Friday and Saturday nights used to be our prime time and the place was booming.
“Now numbers vary between 30 and 50 but they used to be between 100 and 150,” he said.
Mr Brogan saved the centre from closure more than two decades ago when his three daughters started skating there.
His 26 yearold daughter Melanie Brogan is now captain of the Australian women’s inline hockey team and he said despite the centre’s dwindling numbers they continued to produce some of the country’s best skaters.
Mr Brogan said many of the skaters coming back to the rink had been big fans of the skates back in the 1980s and were keen to relive their old hobby.
He said a reunion was to be held on 20 August where more than 100 Dandenong skate club members from that era would reunite on the rink but conceded that things were not looking that good for the skating business.
“NSW is down to just two skate centres but hopefully this is not a sign of things to come.
“Things are pretty tough at the moment but skating is a good pastime and I hope the centre is around for a lot longer,” he said.
