Oh, is that what they're called?! Yes... when I was growing up we had a park with a playground that would have had Health&Safety screaming in horror. It had see-saws, a witch's hat, swings with hard wooden seats and so on... it was usually packed and many knees got skinned on the concrete & gravel.
I was ten, eleven-ish, when they took them all out. The playground stood empty for a year or two until it was eventually replaced with a nice safe one, with play sets that couldn't hurt anyone. The ground was some sort of soft rubbery stuff that made it hard to even run on, and the climbing frame was so low if you fell you'd hardly feel it. There were no swings, The slide was a long plastic tube so gentle you had to push yourself along it... the place was filled with structured games painted out for us kids. If I recall correctly there was a pretend pirate ship with a friendly looking pirate figure.
None of the kids wanted to play there any more. It was boring.
How sad :-( The playground in our local park is divided into three sections for different ages, with sand in the toddler one, which probably helps. I was thinking back to the playgrounds we used—we moved a few times and there were four of us to grow up, plus we'd usually go to the playground when visiting the grandparents, so I saw a few—and the mayhem I remember, I'm amazed I never saw anybody die. Yes, I played on the witch's hat, though I think I dimly remember being not allowed to when I was little, and much of the fun was standing up and banging it against the pole. I was one of those who figured out you could get the roundabout going really fast. Other kids whose parents weren't there would do things like jumping off the seesaw so the other person went crashing to the ground, and in Manchester I watched older kids who liked to get the swings going really high, stand up, and fling themselves off. They always managed to walk away. I always thought Americans wrapped their kids in cotton wool but now I wonder whether it's mostly that I no longer live near the local Bash Street Kids :-)
I think...once or twice, maybe? We had most of the playground equipment that would horrify parents, nowadays, but we didn't have those. I think I played on a couple of them when visiting, elsewhere, at different times. It's a vague memory.
Yes, trying desperately not to get my fingers caught. It was a rather limited piece of equipment.
In general though, I believe playgrounds of that era encouraged you to challenge yourself and were the better for it. At the top of the smooth metal slide it was a long way off the ground, but there was always a queue of kids behind you on the ladder so no time to worry about that before sliding down. With the swings, you first learnt to propel yourself without being pushed, then you learnt to swing further and further, then to stand on the swing and finally to jump off without injury.
There was always someone like you who made the roundabout go really fast. I would instantly feel sick and remember reeling around with dizziness when finally allowed to step off.
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I was ten, eleven-ish, when they took them all out. The playground stood empty for a year or two until it was eventually replaced with a nice safe one, with play sets that couldn't hurt anyone. The ground was some sort of soft rubbery stuff that made it hard to even run on, and the climbing frame was so low if you fell you'd hardly feel it. There were no swings, The slide was a long plastic tube so gentle you had to push yourself along it... the place was filled with structured games painted out for us kids. If I recall correctly there was a pretend pirate ship with a friendly looking pirate figure.
None of the kids wanted to play there any more. It was boring.
From:
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From:
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From:
no subject
In general though, I believe playgrounds of that era encouraged you to challenge yourself and were the better for it. At the top of the smooth metal slide it was a long way off the ground, but there was always a queue of kids behind you on the ladder so no time to worry about that before sliding down. With the swings, you first learnt to propel yourself without being pushed, then you learnt to swing further and further, then to stand on the swing and finally to jump off without injury.
There was always someone like you who made the roundabout go really fast. I would instantly feel sick and remember reeling around with dizziness when finally allowed to step off.