http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: "BMXing among the broken glass in Glasgow's east end" en Mon, 01 Jun 2026 05:15:19 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9711#post-104757 Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:08:35 +0000 gembo 104757@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Not a lot of light in winter but this Wednesday it will be fifty fifty </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=9711#post-104754 Sun, 17 Mar 2013 12:55:13 +0000 chdot 104754@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>IT boasts a small running track,<br /> courts for ball games and even<br /> an area for BMX bikes and<br /> skateboarding. But at Molendinar<br /> Park in Glasgow's east end,<br /> broken glass is also scattered on<br /> steps and there is a distinct lack of<br /> children, despite it being a sunny - if<br /> cold - Friday afternoon after school.<br /> That changes when the play rangers<br /> from PEEK turn up, armed with some<br /> hula hoops and balls. Around a dozen<br /> children appear from nearby houses and<br /> a local community centre, and are soon<br /> running around the park.<br /> Miranda Munro, one of the play<br /> rangers, explains that it is up to the<br /> children to decide which activities they<br /> will take part in - which can range<br /> from old favourites like hide and seek<br /> to sports such as tennis.<br /> "If we provide the equipment they<br /> will pick it up and play with it anyway.<br /> If there is athletics stuff, they will touch<br /> it out of curiosity," she says. "They<br /> really take to new equipment and<br /> new games, instead of the same old<br /> games of tag."<br /> Far from having to wear gym gear,<br /> there are children running around in a<br /> variety of outfits, ranging from school<br /> uniforms to a Spider-Man costume<br /> and even a Disney princess dress.<br /> Kimberley, eight, says she likes<br /> playing "tig and stuff". It's difficult to<br /> get Michael, 10, to stand still long<br /> enough to ask him any questions,<br /> but he pauses to list football and<br /> basketball as his favourite activities,<br /> before sprinting off to take part in a<br /> relay race.<br /> Ellie Shields, who is from St Paul's<br /> Youth Forum, a local church group<br /> based in Provanmill, which works in<br /> partnership with PEEK, says: "It<br /> used to be difficult getting the kids<br /> to use this park. There was so much<br /> money spent on it, but it was just not<br /> getting used.<br /> "Children would not come down<br /> and use the park, as parents were<br /> concerned it was not safe - there is<br /> not a lot of light in winter. But they<br /> have that reassurance when we are<br /> here."<br /> Shields says that incidents of<br /> vandalism at the park had stopped<br /> since the group began using it last<br /> April, as the children now had more<br /> pride in their park.<br /> "There is so much here for the kids<br /> it is a shame to waste it," she adds.</p> <p><em>From Sunday Herald</em></p> <p><a href="http://www.peekproject.org.uk/articles/article.php?sectionID=1&amp;articleID=1" rel="nofollow">http://www.peekproject.org.uk/articles/article.php?sectionID=1&amp;articleID=1</a> </p>