Insight

GY95, previously known as the registered charity 'Giving Young People Opportunities,' is an established Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) operating in North East Lincolnshire. The committee is made up of passionate local volunteers that dedicate free time to ensure that the local urban sports scene and associated cultures have a voice, facilities to enjoy sports freely and a community to nurture and guide future projects.

A significant amount of our time goes into maintaining the existing facilities, including the Buck Beck Trails (previously known as GYPO trails) and New Waltham Race Track.

We continuously look for ways to engage with local young people, to ensure their voice is heard and to assist them with their development through the local urban sports scene. Our regular GY95 Grooves nights held at Willy’s pub are testament to this.

The history

In the early 90’s BMX was back to its purest form, after the big boom of the 80’s had fazed out. The local BMX track at the YMCA was bulldozed leaving enthusiasts with nowhere locally to ride which forced them onto the streets to get creative. They jumped the steps down Cleethorpes seafront, rode the grass banks at the pier gardens and built ramps with whatever wood and materials they could find. This shaped a DIY mentality that is still engraved into our scene today.  

After a few short lived dirt jumping locations dotted around the town that failed for numerous reasons, the small scene was back to square one.  This leads us to 1995 and the birth of G*Y*P*O trails.  A few friends led by Matt Twyman started to build the first few jumps on the piece of wasteland near Taylor’s Avenue. The land had been a council run waste facility before being de-commissioned. Travellers moved onto the site and it became an unofficial Travellers camp for many years before the council won the battle to vacate them leaving a slice of land between Buck Beck and King George playing fields. This land is where the digging started. Hidden in the trees, away from prying eyes and local busybodies. 

 One of the first jumps was actually a wooden ramp made from pallets dug into a natural bank landing, with a couple of mud doubles at the other end of the run up. 

The trails were unofficial for many years before we sat down with the council after being caught by the police building some other jumps at the back of Weelsby Woods, this was a conservation area so didn't go down well but it got us a meeting and gave us a chance to secure the future of G*Y*P*O trails. Plans were drawn up and not long after a local company dumped us a few lorries of fresh clay the company was happy because they said they would normally have to pay to dump mud so it was win win for all parties. With the nod from the council and fresh load of mud we started to build our scene, with youth on our side and a ton of passion it was trail and error to keep improving the jumps.

Nowadays the trails have a legendary status, with riders traveling from across the UK to ride our clay sculptures. The scale of the Jam’s in recent years are a testament to that fact, with hundreds of riders coming for a weekend of riding and live music at the seaside.  Chris (Sass) Warren, Chris Stanforth and Gary Hurst, are all part of that original crew in the 90s to pick up spades, and still part of the committee to this day. 

Many have come and gone, but what remains is a strong voluntary group of trustee’s that continue to work behind the scenes to ensure the future of our facility's.

The trails have evolved with BMX. They’ve been a breeding ground to some amazing riders over the years and a safe sanctuary for many. More than just some piles of mud, it’s a home, its memories, it’s one of the longest running trail spots in the UK and we hope it continues to be for generations to come.