Who remembers do this down the local park

[Northstander]

Is this the world's first playground swing? Newly discovered photographs show how children had fun in the days before health and safety | Mail Online

 

[tinycowboy]

Like the look of those long swings - they've got some at Groombridge Place, near Tunbridge Wells. They're great fun, problem is having to pay to get in - very pricey. Wouldn't trust myself to set one up in the garden though.

 

[T soprano]

I remember The Witches Hat that used to swing round & round with hundreds of kids hanging of it in the 70s a leathal contraption

 

[Northstander]

I remember The Witches Hat that used to swing round & round with hundreds of kids hanging of it in the 70s a leathal contraption

The banana boats were amazing if you stood at each end to get the momentum going, I do remember when they started to disappear after numerous broken collar bones

Health and safety gone mad

 

[brightn'ove]

Christ they can't write a single article without some kind of political bias can they...

 

[Hillian1]

We had some bloody dangerous stuff when I was a kid:

There was one thing I've never seen since or anywhere else that was like a massive roundabout, like a giant upturned shuttlecock that went round at the speed of light and rocked from side to side.

Edit, here it is.

 

[Simster]

I do hate the way the Daily Mail rallies against Health & Safety, even by stealth.

 

[Triggaaar]

Some great pictures, the guy in the first one has a death wish.

 

[fire&skill]

We had some bloody dangerous stuff when I was a kid:

There was one thing I've never seen since or anywhere else that was like a massive roundabout, like a giant upturned shuttlecock that went round at the speed of light and rocked from side to side.

View attachment 42538

Excellent - took me straight back to Saunders Park. Rumour was that it was removed because somebody got their hand crushed in the 'ball and socket' joint at the top.

I remember one of these down there too

 

[gazingdown]

The "modern" day photos show very young kids on small swings.
The old photos show much older kids (and adults) on the large swings. Also, they appear to also be on "safety" surfaces, i.e. grass!

All that's gone is the large swings. Would older kids (and adults) even use them these days?

 

[fire&skill]

On a H&S theme, one that recently slipped through the net was the 'Ridge-Rider' in Buck Park, Shoreham. A super-fast mono-rail thing that must have claimed at least three victims a day. Including me on one sorry occasion. And that's NOT me in the picture.

 

[Jam The Man]

The old playground at Easthill Park in Portslade was lethal, but great fun.
From memory it had:

Roundabout - went very fast
Huge slide - guaranteed to literally fly off the end.. especially if you went down it wearing football boots
Massive cubed Climbing frame - if you fell you'd end up in hospital
Big swings - all liberally applied with WD40

Got deconstructed after the '87 storm and relocated on the other side of the park with rubberised equipment

 

[Icy Gull]

Anyone remember swinging so hard that you could do a complete loop over the top. Only did that once, fecking terrifying. Is it still possible on modern swings to do that?

 

[Lush]

Remember that sinking feeling, on arriving at the park, to find that some bigger kids had swung the swings round and round so they were right at the top and you had to wait for a grown up to get them back down again?

 

[Boys 9d]

I always loved the plank swings.

 

[Krusty]

I opened this thread fearing some incriminating evidence had come to light

PHEW!

 

[Box of Frogs]

Excellent - took me straight back to Saunders Park. Rumour was that it was removed because somebody got their hand crushed in the 'ball and socket' joint at the top.

I remember one of these down there too

View attachment 42541

I remember both of those down Saunders Park back in the late 60s and early 70s. They also had the swings with long chains and a roundabout that was lethal once it got going. Seen many a small child ping off that at high speed, including me on more than one occasion.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I do hate the way the Daily Mail rallies against Health & Safety, even by stealth.

Particularly when they'd be straight up on the bandwagon squealing if a child fell off something and got injured.

 

[GreersElbow]

What is the DMs obsession with health and safety, most of their sensationalist stories about HS are often proved to be BS...

We should get rid of H&S outside of industry. People should have a level of personal responsibility, including children. If everyone was forced to take out personal liability insurance for their kids in order to use a playground, that would deal with accidents. We'd be able to employ a few layabouts to check the kids ID coming into the parks.
- bwims , Dover, United Kingdom, 09/5/2013 10:45


Read more: Is this the world's first playground swing? Newly discovered photographs show how children had fun in the days before health and safety | Mail Online
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No idea if he's being serious or not, but would not surprise me.

 

[The Large One]

I do hate the way the Daily Mail rallies against Health & Safety, even by stealth.

I think that was the entire point of the piece; to dole out a well-trodden whine about things like health and safety - as though it were an affront to their civil liberties - but in this instance wrap it up in the warmth of a nostalgia trip that many can relate to.

Never mind that the passage of time may have dulled the memories of cuts, bruises, broken limbs or worse for some...