Raiders of Temple Park - South Shields teenagers launch exhibition exploring the history of lost Temple Park BMX track

Young people from the Temple Raiders bike group, which was set up in Temple Park, South Shields, are launching an exhibition highlighting the activities they have taken part in as part of a project to explore the history of one of the region’s lost BMX Dirt Tracks.

The group’s exhibition – Raiders of Temple Park – will be on display in Cleadon Park Library in Prince Edward Road from Tuesday, February 18 to Saturday, February 22.

The Heritage Lottery Fund project, which launched in 2018, has given young people in the area the chance to explore the creation of the BMX Track in the 1980s, when the craze was at its height, as well as the hysteria caused by public reaction to BMXers they saw as causing a nuisance.

The young people have also surveyed and recorded the former track with the help of Archaeologist, Marc Barkman-Astles, of Archaeosoup Productions.

Young people involved in the project were encouraged to go on to develop their own bike club, Temple Raiders, which scooped four trophies in a winter series of BMX races in the region.

They are keen to pursue more cycling activities and recently backed a petition to bring a BMX track back to South Tyneside.

Gerard New, Youth and Community Worker with Tyneside Outdoors commented: “What was really interesting to find was that it was a petition by young people that brought about the BMX Track in Temple Park, yet here we are, 37 years later, with young people in much the same situation, but with no one listening to them.”

Temple Raiders rider, Dylan Simpson, 14, said: “The activities we have done over the last couple of years have been really interesting and fun, learning how BMX Tracks worked in the 1980s and comparing them to now has been great. We hope that petition for a modern BMX Track in South Shields will be a success and give us a place to train and for our team to develop.”