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Post by Sam Tyler on Jun 5, 2015 10:29:21 GMT
Who remembers playgrounds like these?
Slides twenty feet tall, swings fifteen feet high, as well as climbing frames twelve feet high, and all above solid concrete bases?
There were swings and a slide just like those above, as well as a tall climbing frame in the rec. alongside Egham station when I was a kid. I remember being about 11 or 12 and with a mate of mine, waxing the slide with old crayons to get maximum speed down to the bottom.
It would have been in the 70s though that Health & Safety kicked in and the tall, open slides replaced with low ones about seven feet tall built onto log huts, swings replaced with much lower ones, and climbing frames also replaced. Understandably though, gone was the concrete bases to be replaced with bark chippings and then latterly rubberised bases.
The thrill of the high slide was lost.
Sam
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Del Boy
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Post by Del Boy on Jun 5, 2015 12:58:25 GMT
Fantastic places. Had some great times in those playgrounds. Shame health and safety has ruined it a bit for today's kids. We have a park near to us where they have sensibly left some of the old equipment like the high slide but put in the rubber base's around them. A good compromise
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Post by Gene Hunt on Jun 5, 2015 14:26:32 GMT
I remember them very fondly. I spent hours on them as a kid. Health and safety has had a profound effect on this sort of thing though now which is not entirely a great thing. Today's play parks are mundane in comparison.
Health and safety isn't always able to prevent accidents either. On a larger scale I know, but the recent accident at Alton Towers is a good example of what happens when procedure isn't followed. Allegedly.
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Vienna
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Post by Vienna on Jun 5, 2015 17:09:31 GMT
Great photo there, Sam. When was the picture taken? Unfortunately, my mum wouldn't have allowed me to go on a slide like that - too dangerous! It must have been fun though, eh? Vienna
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Bomber
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Post by Bomber on Jun 5, 2015 19:59:15 GMT
Great. We had a very high/long slide in our park. We used to take the waxy wrappers from loaves of bread over there & slide down on em. You went like a rocket! Straight off the end & onto Tarmac. We never moaned. I'd get a rollicking when I went home with holes in my trousers, mind.
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Post by Brown Granada on Jun 5, 2015 21:13:06 GMT
Kids don't know they're born today with their namby pamby soft playgrounds lol.
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Post by Sam Tyler on Jun 5, 2015 23:38:53 GMT
Great photo there, Sam. When was the picture taken? No idea when or where it was taken, it was one I found when searching on the t'interweb. I had been talking about Egham Rec. with my parents so I thought I'd see if any pictures existed. I didn't find any of Egham but I did find that one and it bought back the memories. Sam.
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The Saint
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Post by The Saint on Jun 6, 2015 9:59:02 GMT
I remember we had a tall slide like that at my infants school circa 1980, those were the days, tall slide, small kids and no padding on the concrete floor!
The Saint
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Post by Steve Austin on Jun 6, 2015 13:40:27 GMT
I used to love the roundabout and if you could get one of the older kids to spin it as fast as they could (didn't have my bionic legs then ) it was great - trying to jump on/off at speed, smashing!!
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Post by Windy Miller on Jun 7, 2015 19:29:10 GMT
There was the Witches Hat :- The slide in the background has wooden side near the top for safety. I also remember the really heavy roundabouts like this :- You were always waiting for a new kid to turn up who would push it round again
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