Back in October, Cllr Karen Garrido used her Advertiser column to highlight the initial report from the Childhood Review being conducted by David Willetts MP.
David Cameron has now launched the second report from the review, entitled “more ball games”.
It has three key strands:
- Making outdoor space safer
- Dealing with bullying
- Increasing accessibility to sports and other activities within and outside school
You can read the full report here. It is well worth a read, and in marked contrast to our Labour Council which posts “trespassers will be prosecuted” signs on publicly-owned playing fields.
Well perhaps Mr Cameron will come and clear up the aftermath of those trespassers who make the ‘publicly owned’ playing fields unusable for most decent people and whose dog fouling creates a serious hazard to the health of my kids who play there - you have to have some limits, Cllr Lindley.
I remember that we were once the head of a great empire, with important things to legislate about, but so reduced in status have we become that by 1996 we were reduced to legislating against dog dirt. [and banning fox-hunting, giving gays a marriage parody and other nonsensical nonentity laws since then]
I remember when I was a boy back in the bad old days of freedom to defacate and actually in wasn’t so bad. Rather than watching TV or playing computer games I was out roaming far and wide from the home, running around, riding bikes, climbing trees, playing football, breaking into disused warehouses etcetera. And dog dirt was just a normal part of growing up. It was fun to walk to school and have to dodge the dog dirt on the pavement. It taught alertness, balance, coordination and spatial awareness. Furthermore if one trod in a big pile on the footie field or elsewhere it was funny for one’s friends and taught one that great truth of life: shit happens… sometimes.
Today was a bad day. Meetings in rochdale trouble at home. But after reading your comments tou gave me and the Mrs a good laugh.
Ste - I quite agree about the dog-fouling, but the signs will not deter those who wish to make a mess. It is the law-abiding residents who will respect the signs.