There were marked differences between the groups taking part in the discussion. The 2
church social groups (groups 1 and 4) showed little interest in the concept. Group 1
which was based in a city centre was particularly concerned about intimidation from
“youths”. Where an interest in the concept was shown by individuals within these groups,
this was limited to using playgrounds with grandchildren or as part of an organised group
activity. The “frail elderly” day centre group (group 2) felt that they faced too many
personal physical barriers to even consider independent use. This group struggled to
consider the concept of playground use because the word playground was for them so
firmly associated with children. The fitness classes (groups 3 and 5) not surprisingly
were more open to the idea of using playground equipment. Concerns were expressed
by the city centre based group 3 about personal safety as gangs of youth were often
seen hanging around local playgrounds. For this reason lone use was considered
unviable but there was strong interest in using playground equipment as part of
supervised group activities. Both fitness groups preferred the concept of circuit type use
of equipment as part of a structured exercise session rather than for unstructured play.
Members of the art class (group 6) were open to the concept of playground use;
however, in this group the potential embarrassment of being seen using equipment was
a dominant theme.