Strange, almost archaeological traces of another disappeared park between North Parade and The Walk.
‘A mark of a wider dereliction in the relation between history and the present.’ (Patrick Wright and Jeremy Davies, ‘Just Start Digging: Memory and the framing of heritage’, Memory Studies, July 2010: 3, pp. 196-203).
It's partly health and safety concerns, but largely the "privatisation" of social housing that leads to this, I feel. Where once there were playparks (here, and several other points around the estate), community centres and even chapels (the one on Whitewood Lane long sold off to become a private house), there is now no room - no commercial room, that is, for anything that doesn't provide revenue. It's maybe significant that the only real amenities that survive here from the 1960s are the arcades of shops.
ReplyDeleteThis clearing of the Sixties' playparks, decorative wall-hung tiling, hedges and almost anything that pleases the eye or the soul reminds me of the cleansing of all symbols of the old DDR in Germany - even the positive ones like public art, clocks and fountains.
You're right Allen - probably me getting older but any notion of progress these days seems to involve the reduction of things, especially public services and provisions. It's a harsh world.
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