    (What an extraordinary adventure-continued)   THE ROGERSTONE LOG CABIN/ Gwent/south Wales    IN THE VALLEY 
Its peaceful in the valley where the lambs and rabbits play where the linnets build their nests just half a mile away where the wind Berry's are growing on the banks and heathered down where the sun shines in the mornings just as the moon goes down The deer runs in the woodlands the hills are green and thick there's farming in the valleys still along with Dylan Thomas- Dai and rick Here the history tells of miners working down the pits when the children died in aberavan where kids still respect their mam There's singers of great stature grand choirs throughout this fair land in a world of peace and beauty let me take your hand Il show you the hills of brecon with the streams all running free the lovely abergavenny wales is so beautiful to me Its peaceful in the valley where the lambs and rabbits play where the linnets build their nests just half a mile away.
Decisions
Following my success in establishing Balsall Heath adventure playground in Birmingham I attended three interviews for positions in play.
I was offered all of these posts and had to make the decision of which one to accept. These included Hillfields play centre in Coventry a local education department project,Mint Street adventure playground in Southwark London and the other was for the new log cabin play centre at Rogerstone village in Gwent South Wales.
This was a joint project for Rogerstone Parish Council and Magor and St Melons Rural Council. After much reflection I chose Rogerstone log cabin play centre. This project was in complete contrast to the Balsall Heath community. Here there were few busy roads,little heavy traffic and no slums.
The neighborhood.
ROGERSTONE COMMUNITY COUNCIL http://www.rogerstonecommunitycouncil.com/index.asp
Rogerstone was a welsh village with a mixture of housing old and new,council and private. A great deal of the landscape was unspoilt,quiet and tranquil with scenic beauty of fields, the Cefn woodlands and the Brecon beacon hills in the distance.
The play centre site was within fields next to the Cefn woods and situated in a basin overlooked by the hills of the Brecon and the high cross pre war red bricked housing estate and recreation grounds. Alongside the site were modern built family housing units and senior citizen bungalow dwellings.
In the far distance was the local parish village with its church, school and cricket grounds. The playcentre was a new log cabin which had been imported from Norway.
On my first visit to Rogerstone I took the bus from Newport to High cross. I then strolled down the steep hill to the play centre cabin site in the basin of the valley below.
It was a beautiful sunny day, a Sunday,I was aware of a large group of Sunday school children from the local chapel on the hill, playing noisy chase games on the green grassy recreation area. Then I became aware of the panoramic view of the valley below and the surrounding green meadows and far in the distance the view of the Brecon Hills. I was taken aback by the freshness and the beauty of the landscape stretched out below. A remarkable contrast when compared to the harshness of the Birmingham city,Balsall heath i had left behind with its busy roads and high density housing.
The green green fields of Rogerstone and the panoramic view up to the hill of Abergaveny and beyond were a great attraction to visitors from the cities. In the days that were to follow I would regularly be up here on this same area of wide sloping green recreational expanse. Often accompanied by hundreds of children from the neighberhood. Playing games of "pond and bank" and "stuck in the mud" along with the traditional "oranges and lemons". Or along with the the older boys playing adhoc games of soccer using coats and jumpers as goal posts.
Detached Work
Therefore before starting work in the play centre I had chosen to work in the community as a detatched worker on the estate. In this way I felt I would be best able to operate the new project after I had built up solid relationships with the local young people. I worked on the streets,playing fields and in the local youth clubs.Whilst at the same time building contacts and resources with community leaders. I felt this was the right way to operate prior to officially opening the play centre log cabin. Therefore by the time I was ready I had built a strong relationship with local youngsters.
On the site.
Once i had a log cabin sheltered in the sun it lie in south wales valley where children all did run There were fields of open meadow hills of scenic views in a village they called Rogey many miles from Poole
Hundreds of kids played there in the little cabin home there were birds in the woodlands squirrels that never roamed i was the kids play leader south wales was my home In the little Norwegian cabin we played games of fun n chase with lots of balls n bats where folks they knew their place The little log cabin with scenic views the hills of abergavinny at night the stars shone through The grass there was green n rich the sky was oh so blue in the little hillside valley many miles from Poole.
My first summer on the play centre site was exhilarating and exhausting. A period full of events for the local children flocked to the cabin in large numbers in fact in their hundreds. Where they took part in a wide programme of events and activities.Including art work sessions,table tennis tournaments,recreational games and sports activities. We were able to make full use of the available outside recreational space on the estate as well as the Cefn woodlands. So many children attended that we had to extend the scheme to the village playing fields also, such was the demand. The play centre also focused on the social problem kids of the area. Many of these were well hidden onto now. By now I had an assistant play leader, my friend Mike Halward who originally assisted me at Balsall Heath adventure playground in Birmingham. We organised a large number of day trips and excursions to places like Newport adventure playground. Here we worked alongside the vibrant, fit and attractive leggy blonde Helen Gush. Newport Adventure Playground.
Helen Gush was the Play leader of the Newport adventure playground. The Newport playground ran alongside the railway line and to the rear of the large council housing estate with its own recreation grounds and large natural pond. Here we took part in inter playground competitions as well as inviting them to the Rogerstone play centre on a regular basis. The problems of the Newport adventure playground were many. It was at one stage arsoned and all burnt to the ground. A child attender was blinded by a dart and vandalism on the site was common practice. However,despite all this Helen persevered,gaining much local community support from her loyal band of helpers. Often she would visit me at Rogerstone. When Helen left the adventure playground and married a probation officer in London. The kids threw her fully clothed into the nearby pond as a farewell gesture.
Toddlers out late.
At Rogerstone log cabin many tiny tots were attending the project till late at night up untill the darker autumn evenings. I voiced my concerns at this at a local council meeting which was unfortunately taken up by the Cardiff Times which published a front page article entitled,"Playgroup leader slams Parents". Later I had to explain this to the local parents who in the vast majority supported my concerns and stance. Following this a great many small children were then collected from the site in the evenings by older brothers and sisters. Shortly after a group of local parents showed great interest in forming a parents group to fund raise and organise activities. I was therfore able to organise a public open evening from which a parents association evolved.
The Rogerstone youths sported long hair,wore flared trousers and Dr Martin boots. Were as, in nearby Cardiff city the youths were skinheads and dressed in jeans and bracers. These two groups skinheads and Grebos were often involved in fights in Newport. The local lads were terrified of being confronted by the Cardiff skins.,who rumoured had it travelled the estates in cars looking for them. Newport town centre at weekends was often a no go area for local lads when the skins visited the town.
The Youth Section. The youths in attendance at the cabin grew in numbers and requested a youth section. Discussions followed with the council officers and members of the county council and it was approved that we could operate later in the evenings for this group. This newly formed section began their actuivities with regular weekly discos. The music provided by a club member Gary Rogers.
The Senior Citizens Group.
Other successful events were to follow.Including an organised Senior Citizens Evening supervised by the youth section. This event included a a chicken salad meal for the pensioners with music of oldtime favourites played by a local beat group.
The local Probation Officer was invited to attend regularly and became involved in many of the cabins activities. On one occasions supporting me in a venture to escort a youth group on an overnight expedition across and over the Brecon Beacons which was the major landscape in the terrain. Thus raising funds to finance the pensioners evening.
Karen a small play centre regular wrote to the N.P.F.A and her letter was printed in their glossy play publication monthly magazine "Play Right".
The Log Cabin could not be fully developed in adventure play because its proximity to senior citizens housing. There were to be no building of dens or play structures here. As well as local peoples concept as childs play being a noisy and unsightly activity. The Log Cabin however did focus well on the local concerns of the area,which until then were usually hidden. Unfortunately besides the holiday periods the cabin was not adequately staffed to cater for the increasing demands and numbers of the children in attendance. Despite my constant demands for increased supervision. The Log Cabin building itself was of solid pine log structure but it lacked the most neccesary fittings for its windows,pipes and guttering were all plastic. An open invitation to wear and tear and vandalism.
I lived with a local family the Pritchards, old man Charlie Pritchard had been a boxing champion and was hard and set in his ways. He had no respect for the modern youths with their long hair and fashions.
Each morning I would walk from their home on the red bricked council estate and down the steep grassy hilLto open up the cabin, in the valley below. Picking up hordes of small children on the route. Many of them heard the jingly sounds of my small bells which I wore on the rim of my fashionable bell bottom green flared corduroy trousers. Such were in fashion at the time.
Dana. Euro-vision pop star. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3r7Tp7fAZ4
In later months I lived with the Bellew family in their privately owned home. It was then I met Dana the famous Irish pop singer who had won the Euro-vision song contest. Dana stayed with the Ballews, Clive and Moira,at weekends, her father was a close friend of Clive Ballew. I can truthfully say I gave up my room and bed for her and slept on the sofa. Clive and Moira had two small boys who came to the cabin each day, they would always be close to me.
Many of the children at the Cabin painted pictures and crayoned masterpieces daily. The youths at the cabin such as The Guy brothers were very helpful and supportative and also good with the small kids. Tony Rogers, Steve Wakeham and Clive Wakeham were also very good voluntary assistants. Their small bubbly younger sister Michelle was a regular attender at the cabin daily.
Play leadership course/London.
Tony Rogers one of the play centre youth members wanted to know more about play and attended the N.P.F.A Play leadership course at Kennington College with me on a regular basis. The course was run by the Inner London Education Authority and the London Adventure Playground Association. Its tutors were Alan Curtis from N.P.F.A and Virginia Bottomley of The Child Poverty Action Group.
Virginia remarked that,"with the pressure of space,the facility which can be used by the largest numbers of children for physical exercise in the smallest space is the Adventure Playground". In later years Virginia was to enter politics and became a conservative M.P.
Play bodies and conferences. Often I would travel to attend numerous play related local,regional and national conferences or meetings with other play people. Often these were organised by N.P.F.A.who were always kept up to date with my progress at Rogerstone.
During this time I attended the official opening of the national sports centre at Cardiff meeting up once again with Drummond Abernethy of N.P.F.A. I also attended meetings with local council play officers and councillours at Central Hll Westminster in London. The newly formed adventure play workers association held their first meeting at Notting Hill adventure playground in London which I attended with Jim Jackson adventure playground leader.
When the kids played in the Cefn woodlands their favourite traditional game was called runout,a game that was very energetic and could last for hours. We would often play this within the deep woodland ferns and bushes situated at the edge of the cabin. Often hundreds of kids and youths were involved.
Escorting kids.
Because of social problems in the Rogerstone village,mainly due to kids playing too close to houses,I was instructed to help out. I agreed to collect children daily from across the village and bring them across to the site through the winding riverside track .I was helped by the elder youths from the cabin with this project. One autumn a local brewery held a function on the recreation grounds close to the estate. Another time the Welsh Rugby team was stranded overnight and had no where to stay. They were sent to me by the local chapel for help and I hurriedly made the neccesary arrangements for them to sleep overnight at the cabin. The play centre kids thought this was really amazing. They were collecting autographs from all their favourite players before the cabin closed for the day.
Community bonfire and display. During the autumn months we organised a community bonfire and fireworks display. This attracted hundreds of participants. We had our very own St Johns Ambulance officer in David Jones a play centre member. This was a most successful venture with a guy Fawkes competition and fireworks supervised by the youth section. The nearby village post office was the greatest source for local gossip. If you wanted to know anything you would find out there. Because of my long hair and appearance,flared trousered,beatle boots and english accent I was therby branded as a Hippy. Along with the fact that I would lay out on the grass and meditate and relax prior to starting work each day at the cabin. Thus I was seen as a Hippy employed by the council, encouraging delinquency by mixing with the youth of the area. There was even a rumour going the rounds that I was taking kids to the pub on High Cross. The log cabin had lots of successfull enterprises with hundreds of kids involved daily throughout the year. In the holidays I found myself co ordinating the full programme at the cabin,plus the youth section, as well as a play scheme locally and others in the village. Out of the success of the Senior Citizens party a Senior Citizens group was established at the cabin.
Discussions were also taking part with the council to operate a childrens Nursery, or pre school playgroup at the cabin in the mornings.
The Rogerstone Carnival. We entered the local carnival with two floats created by our busy parents group. One of the mums ran a dressmaking shop in Newport and many of our cabin parents were involved in making costumes for the kids over many weeks. It was all well worth it when we won first prize at the carnival with our float "Indian Reservation". The children wore real war paint and looked fabulous.
VILLAGE CHILDREN.
We were the village children lost to reels of rhyme we were stranded in our imaginations lost in another place and time We were the village children just let out to play we wallowed in our innocence trapped in this moment today We were the village children destined t impart our dreams and fantasies of love like a candle wick just sparked We were the village children all grown old in time lost our hopes and innocence planted on the vine.
The youth section went from strength to strength. One of its members Haydn Berry won the county table tennis championship. The Wakeham brothers Steve and Gary were also a great help to me. Relationships with the parents of children remained sound. I had now a nucleus of supporters including Mrs Insley,Mrs Jones ( Phillips mother ) Mr and Mrs Richards,Mrs Kent, Mrs Pritchard, Mr and Mrs Ballew etc.
I was regularly invited to speak at local schools on the value of childs play. Winter periods at the cabin were obviously not so busy and attendences fell due to colder darker evenings. However,indoor activities continued and appeared to be just as popular amongst the regulars. There were regular disco evenings,parents evenings,table tennis competitions,crazy games of indoor five a side football. Art and Craft sessions continued to be popular,these were well supervised by Mrs Insley and Moira Kent (mum of Helen). The parents association became very proactive, pressing the council for an improved bus service and footpaths to the village. (Which for most of the year was waterlogged due to the subway being usually flooded). Disco for tiny tots. The youth section organised an evening disco for the tiny tots,this event was called a Teeny Boppers Disco and went down a treat with everyone. The younger children came in droves on the evening,all dressed up with their modern trendy party clothes, little handbags and wearing their mums make up. The event was a brilliant success,which the youths had really enjoyed organising, it was such a joy just to see the kids pleasure on the day.
The local education welfare officer was also the pub landlord at the Rogey Hotel in the village and he was very supportive throughout and believed in the concept of child's play.
Injury.
During my second winter at the cabin, I had an accident playing five a side football with the exuberant youth in the cabin and broke my leg .I had therefore to rest for weeks and had to close up the cabin having no other paid staff available to take over.(Despite my pleas for temporary assistants). During these weeks the cabin was broken into on a number of occassions, although no real damage was committed and detergent was scattered around. I was instructed by the council to patrol the grounds on a regular basis each evening. But instructed not to open up, as a punishment to the children for the break ins. It was around this time that my friend Mike Halward who had assisted me in birmingham visited n was appointed as assistant play leader for the school holidays.Unfortunately Mike was attacked by a youth n sported a black eye.Mike was great at scrounging play materials from the local factories for kids play use and excellent with the young children n popular with parents.Mike in later years went onto oiperate his own play schemes. Mike was to visit me in later years in bournemouth.
OFFICER from CARDIFF PRISON Appointed.
By the time the log cabin was reopened the council had appointed a new leader. The guy they appointed was a part time prison officer from Cardiff Prison and he turned up with an Alsatian dog on a chain. "Talk about over reacting".
He was to oversee the youth section in a senior role to me and his role was to "discipline" the youth of the area. As a direct result of the councils new policy numbers of youth attending fell dramatically,it changed from a youth facility to a physical culture club. As the guy had them doing physical jerks.
Since my appointment I had lodged with the Pritchards on the estate, however now even this was to come to an abrupt end. An official from the housing department visited the family and said that the house was overcrowded and that consequently I would have to find alternative accommodation. Fortunately Clive and Moira Bellow, who lived in their own house on the opposite side of the road took me in as their lodger.
During those weeks the local parents got up a petition in support of me and many signed. I was not happy with the strain the local council had put on me and approached both the N.P.F.A and the Adventure Playground Workers Association in London for advice. However there was little they could do apart from listen and support me. However by then I had decided that I would leave voluntary rather than be pushed, or dismissed by council in an awkward situation where I felt victimised.
The Rogerstone situation had taught me a lot,politics was dirty,where playwork was new and invigorating,obviously some people felt threatened by new ideas like local democracy. Some areas of the U.K were obviously not yet ready for local participation in decision making. It was a case where power was in the hands of people who were fearful of involving local people in their community.
I will always remember the success of the parents organisation at the cabin. Their organisation of the winning float at the carnival procession,Indian reservation,along with the exuberant youths and the five a side soccer games in the cabin. The success of the youths teeny boppers disco,the senior citizens group and the trips to Helen Gushs Newport adventure playground. The thrill of the fireworks at the bonfire and fireworks event. But beyond all this the fond memories I recall of hordes of children of all ages walking alongside me each day in the Rogerstone experience and enjoying their play times in such a beautiful setting.
The Rogerstone experience had taught me many lessons along with providing me with many fresh ideas and inspirations for new adventure playgrounds in the future. It had also taught me new skills in community involvement, which I would be able to put to good use in the future.
In 1974, I returned to visit the area,it was a happy visit as I was settled well in Stevenage at that time, where I was operating a very successfull adventure playground at Pin Green.
Tragedy.
However, it was also a sad day. Clive and Moiria Ballew had only just returned from a holiday abroad,where one of their two boys had only just tragically lost his life in a swimming accident.
Smithy, one of the youths who was a member of the Newport boys brigade joined the army around this time. I was to meet up with him again in 1975 , when he was stationed at Bovington army camp in Dorset. When I bumped into him quite by accident, when I was operating the Y.M.C.A centre in the army camp. Smithy was on road patrol duty there during the time of the I.R.A fears.
I returned to Rogerstone in 2004,(over 30 year later) whilst I was attending a Bob Dylan concert in Cardiff. I was to be amazed at the changes in the area. No longer was there any log cabin, or fields, or scenic view of the Brecon hills from the valley, for the whole area had changed dramatically. Now there was just large private housing development and mansions everywhere. I found it difficult to find any of the old landmarks I had previously known so well, or see any of the people I had previously known as children.
However I still had my memories of the plush green meadows, sloping fields, a chapel on a hillside, hordes of happy welsh kids at play and noisy exuberant youth. And a Norwegian log cabin situated in a valley surrounded by a beautiful landscape and the sounds of the Cefn woodlands bird song, echoing across the terrain.    PIN GREEN ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND
 
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