"." wrote in message
...

Half a mile down the road from we we now live is a super duper all
singing
all dancing playground with bells on, funded by European money I believe.
It's beautiful, innovative, brightly painted, lots of seats for parents,
litter bins, safe and very varied equipment and restricted access so that
motor cycling yoof can't get in. It's a triumph of modern design.

And it's empty. I've never seen anyone in it.


Go take a look at around 9pm. If it's anything like the ones down our way
it
will be very busy then.

Loads of 13 year olds smoking, swearing and drinking white cider and
special
brew.

Ours has been a great success since we have started adding to it, we
have a grant application in at the moment for more equipment. We have
gone from the ubiquitous Wicksteed swings, slide and roundabout to
wooden bridges, monkey climbs, balancing poles and the like plus a BMX
area. We have attracted more children down there than ever before and
its working well, we do have a few problems but I normally stamp them in
the bud before they develop.

How do you encourage families to use it?

Our was built on a featureless piece of land which was always called the rec
(recreation ground) but hasn't been used as such for many years. I used to
play on it when I went to my Grandma's, must be ooh easily the best part of
some time ago. Sixty years.

The local population has changed since then but there are still children.

Mary
--
David

In article , Mary
Fisher writes

Ours has been a great success since we have started adding to it, we
have a grant application in at the moment for more equipment. We have
gone from the ubiquitous Wicksteed swings, slide and roundabout to
wooden bridges, monkey climbs, balancing poles and the like plus a BMX
area. We have attracted more children down there than ever before and
its working well, we do have a few problems but I normally stamp them in
the bud before they develop.

How do you encourage families to use it?

Our was built on a featureless piece of land which was always called the rec
(recreation ground) but hasn't been used as such for many years. I used to
play on it when I went to my Grandma's, must be ooh easily the best part of
some time ago. Sixty years.

The local population has changed since then but there are still children.

Mary
--
I'm involved with the local children and worked with them on what they
want(ed), I supervise at the youth club and run the playing field
committee so direct involvement has been the key for us, it helps that I
have only the mental age of most of them anyway :-). We are just about
to start a youth football team up (new goals have just arrived so that's
another job to do). My two children are 12 and 15 and we live in a
village environment so I felt it was important to channel the energy in
a positive direction rather than let them drift into delinquency, as a
group we take them bowling, to the theatre, tobogganing etc and this in
turn has fostered a good community spirit amongst them. Having nabbed
the children we now organise events on the field for the rest of the
family, get the children to come and most of the parents will follow.
--
David

"." wrote in message
How do you encourage families to use it?

Our was built on a featureless piece of land which was always called the
rec
(recreation ground) but hasn't been used as such for many years. I used to
play on it when I went to my Grandma's, must be ooh easily the best part
of
some time ago. Sixty years.

The local population has changed since then but there are still children.

Mary
--
I'm involved with the local children and worked with them on what they
want(ed), I supervise at the youth club and run the playing field
committee so direct involvement has been the key for us, it helps that I
have only the mental age of most of them anyway :-). We are just about
to start a youth football team up (new goals have just arrived so that's
another job to do). My two children are 12 and 15 and we live in a
village environment so I felt it was important to channel the energy in
a positive direction rather than let them drift into delinquency, as a
group we take them bowling, to the theatre, tobogganing etc and this in
turn has fostered a good community spirit amongst them. Having nabbed
the children we now organise events on the field for the rest of the
family, get the children to come and most of the parents will follow.

That's a great record. There are differences in your situation and the one
near our house though. We used to be involved with children too, in this
area we ran summer holiday projects for years and also helped at after
school clubs. At the holiday projects we often took the children to an
innovative playground some miles away, the children loved it, they'd never
seen anything like it and had to be encouraged - persuaded - bullied
sometimes into using the equipment. They needed constant supervision.

We live in an inner city area, the traditional (century old but constantly
changing) immigrant area, so I imagine that there are cultural differences
between our population and that of your village. It's also the red light,
high crime and drug centre of the city. I still believe that most people are
doing the same as most of the rest of the population round the world: trying
to bring up their children in the best way they know. But playing outdoors
doesn't seem to be part of that ambition. The playground was built to
encourage it but there's no supervisory activity, no David or Mary (I'm too
old now) to take the matter in hand. I really think that's the main problem.
It's easier for parents to let the children watch television or play
computer games than take them to the park and the kids don't seem to want to
go by themselves. Perhaps they're not allowed to ...

It's a great shame and a huge waste of public money. Having put that capital
expenditure into it it surely wouldn't take much more to provide at least a
part-time leader. There's a specially built sports club almost next door,
their activities could be extended to younger children in the playground.

Perhaps I'll get on to the local authority about it ... with elections
coming up and it being a highly visible amenity something might happen ...
there's more to community than Carnival.

Thanks for your input, it's inspiring. I wish there some of your ilk where I
live, there used to be :-(

Mary