Description:In the 19th century public parks were introduced to provide the poor and working classes with healthier ways to spend their leisure hours. The land was often given by social reformers – Lord Calthorpe gave land for Calthorpe Park which opened in 1857, and Louisa Ann Ryland donated land for Cannon Hill Park which opened in 1873. Although parks gave children a space in which to play, their behaviour was carefully controlled. The Council’s Parks Committee made special rules to govern parks and employed park police to enforce them.
Another way of getting children off the streets was to build municipal playgrounds for them. Here children were provided with swings, see-saws and roundabouts to encourage safe and healthy play. The emphasis in the 1930s on fresh air, sunshine and enthusiasm for the outdoors gave a massive boost to playgrounds, sandpits, paddling pools and boating lakes.