The skate park is a place to be yourself. There is no pressure to conform

To Romany Morrice, whose daughters Rudi, seven, and Mac, six, appear in the film with skater pal Poppie Smyth, the Livi is more than just a place for kids to develop their ollies and hardflips.

She said: “I grew up in Winchburgh in West Lothian and we used to go to the Livi when we were younger.

“I wanted my girls to skate and they’re better than I am now.

“We never had much money growing up. It was a treat to get to Livingston and there were a couple of times we walked two hours to get there.

“Skating is about inclusivity, especially when it comes to different classes of society. If you’re a working-class person you can go there and there’s no pressure to have the new stuff, to look good.

“Growing up female there’s a lot of pressure on girls to look and behave a certain way.

“The skate park is a place for you to be who you are and there’s no pressure to conform to what society wants to make you as a female.

“You can go to any skate park in the world and because you skate you’ll be welcomed. People talk to you immediately.

“Your life changes so much when you have children – you hang around with people who go to soft play or ceramic painting, you lose your personality to all that. So letting the girls be involved in skating lets them, and me, have our personality.”

Now Romany – whose daughter Rudi is ex-Scottish Under-18’s skateboard champion – hopes the film helps bolster a desire to see the skate park renovated. However it faces resistance from others who think it should be left as it is.

She said: “The Livi has holes, algae, moss and cracks, and the drainage and floodlights don’t work.

“There’s been a bit of pushback from some of the older skaters who don’t want anything done to the park.

“Some pro skaters came out of Livingston in the ’70s and ’80s and skaters from all over the world came here to skate. It was the best in Europe, I think the guys who had that great time there then see it as an ancient monument to skateboarding.

“Indoor skate parks are popping up everywhere, but if I take my kids for two hours it’s £50 and I can’t afford that once a week. The parks are free. Those guys had a great opportunity and wouldn’t it be great if your kids could have that same chance? We could get the park back to how it used to be, and the next generation could excel.”

Long Live Livi, part of the Glasgow Film Festival, is on at the CCA on Tuesday at 6pm