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Where Are They Now? the park yobs?

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Walking through Graves Park this morning resurrected long ago memories of tram rides to Graves Park with a jam jar and a fishing net. But where I used to see minnows and sticklebacks and where people used to go for a row in a skiff in the lovely middle lake with an island, it is now fenced off, silted up, and overburdened with ducks and canada geese.

It's a mess.

But back in the Fifties a half hour in a rowing boat at Graves Park, Endcliffe or Forge Dam was a family event or maybe a courting couple's adventure. People sat on the benches and watched. It was a truly lovely part of living in Sheffield.

But in the 60s the yobs struck. They broke all the tree saplings, they smashed and sank the boats.  All these lovely lakes that formed the "golden frame" which Sheffield Newspapers used as their theme for an annual calendar.  And for half a century the lakes have rotted.

But what of the yobs?  They will now be in their 50s or 60s and may be walking their grandkids round these parks. How many are still alive? How many see their folly?   How few would dare to admit they were among the gangs who trashed our parks? 

The trouble is that nothing has changed. If the rowing boats were put back and the lakes dredged and restored like they are doing at Forge Dam the wreckers would  still be in charge.

The "younger generation" will inherit nothing of any value and it is their own fault.

 

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Now it would be rubber boats and we would take them all in.

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That is very true.

I  spent a of of the 40's, and the 50's, as a teenager, in Graves Park with my mates  and with girlfriends. (the girls who were special were taken on the boats too but we had to spread out our money carefully)

I loved that Park and even worked there as a park keeper for a year in the 60's, one of the nicest years of my life.

If my mates and I could use and appreciate the park as intended, why are all the  modern youths so intent on trashing everything which their parents will have helped to pay for through their rates/ council tax?

I still visit the park when I can and enjoy my memories again like you and feel so sad that the park is so neglected and can't begin to understand the difference between us and the youth of today. 

is it our uncaring governments that have brought about this change in ordinary people or do people have it so easy that they appreciate nothing now they can run further afield in their cars?

Edited by Organgrinder

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23 hours ago, Organgrinder said:

is it our uncaring governments that have brought about this change in ordinary people or do people have it so easy that they appreciate nothing now they can run further afield in their cars?

Governments don't give birth. Parents do.  The failure is entirely down to them. They failed to show their offspring the way that things have to be made; that nature is a wondrous thing which is easily destroyed; that the true value of possessions lies in their fragility; and that living in society imposes responsibilities which mean that everything we do and say impacts on our fellow beings.   I ask myself why I didn't smash anything up and I know it was out of fear for what my dad would do and say if I had arrived home on the end of a policeman's arm.  But I also saw the futility. I was down Little London one night, trainspotting, when there was a commotion from the carriage sidings over the high wall.  Standing on my crossbar I could see a gang of yobs smashing all the plates and cups they had taken from a dining car.  I got the hell out of it.  What did they achieve by their actions?   Nothing. I felt tainted by what I'd seen. That was in the mid to late Fifties. After that cinema seats and rowing boats were fair game. The rampage started and has never stopped. 

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To be fair the Graves Park boating lake was still operating in the 1980s. I use the park often and see little to no vandalism. 

 

The boating lake at Millhouses has reopened recently.

 

It sounds like the 50s and 60s were dark days which thankfully are long gone.

 

 

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6 hours ago, Norbert said:

To be fair the Graves Park boating lake was still operating in the 1980s. I use the park often and see little to no vandalism. 

Look at the broken trees recently planted. See the litter bins set on fire. (By the Meadowhead entrance this weekend) And what about the animals killed at the petting farm?  And in nearby Greenhill Park, quad bikes tearing up the turf, smashed play equipment.   Not quite the paradise you suggest. And I see in The Star the police rammed two off roaders who've been plaguing the whole area.Nice people. 

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25 minutes ago, DavidFrance said:

Look at the broken trees recently planted. See the litter bins set on fire. (By the Meadowhead entrance this weekend) And what about the animals killed at the petting farm?  And in nearby Greenhill Park, quad bikes tearing up the turf, smashed play equipment.   Not quite the paradise you suggest. And I see in The Star the police rammed two off roaders who've been plaguing the whole area.Nice people. 

I think you're looking for reasons to not enjoy the park. As a heavy user of the park for over 30 years I have seen little to no problems. Hundreds of reviews on Trip advisor average to a whopping 4.5/5.

 

The incident at the farm happened 3 years ago, Two other of your points didn't happen in Graves Park. Please try to think more positively and enjoy your time there, and don't miss Sophie's coffee bar by the tennis courts.

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Guest makapaka
On 07/08/2022 at 20:04, DavidFrance said:

Walking through Graves Park this morning resurrected long ago memories of tram rides to Graves Park with a jam jar and a fishing net. But where I used to see minnows and sticklebacks and where people used to go for a row in a skiff in the lovely middle lake with an island, it is now fenced off, silted up, and overburdened with ducks and canada geese.

It's a mess.

But back in the Fifties a half hour in a rowing boat at Graves Park, Endcliffe or Forge Dam was a family event or maybe a courting couple's adventure. People sat on the benches and watched. It was a truly lovely part of living in Sheffield.

But in the 60s the yobs struck. They broke all the tree saplings, they smashed and sank the boats.  All these lovely lakes that formed the "golden frame" which Sheffield Newspapers used as their theme for an annual calendar.  And for half a century the lakes have rotted.

But what of the yobs?  They will now be in their 50s or 60s and may be walking their grandkids round these parks. How many are still alive? How many see their folly?   How few would dare to admit they were among the gangs who trashed our parks? 

The trouble is that nothing has changed. If the rowing boats were put back and the lakes dredged and restored like they are doing at Forge Dam the wreckers would  still be in charge.

The "younger generation" will inherit nothing of any value and it is their own fault.

 

Hang on. The older generation smashed the park up - buy its the younger generations fault.

 

aye sound.

 

 

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50 minutes ago, makapaka said:

Hang on. The older generation smashed the park up - buy its the younger generations fault.

 

aye sound.

 

 

It doesn't take much reasoning to understand what the poster means and that is -

that ever since the 60's, many young people take great joy in destroying everything that society provides  and I'm sure you know that to be true.

That, unfortunately, isn't the only problem. The problem is that the general public don't have the pride that used to be in the 50's and earlier.

Everywhere you go, the streets are full of litter and graffiti is daubed everywhere.

There is peeling paint everywhere you look and vehicles parked on pavements and grass verges which used to be well kept and tidy, and are mud wallows now.

It wasn't like that in our younger days so what has changed?

Edited by Organgrinder
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31 minutes ago, Organgrinder said:

It wasn't like that in our younger days so what has changed?

Your age, outlook and perceptions 

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1 hour ago, Norbert said:

Your age, outlook and perceptions 

You are wrong on all 3 counts.

The fact that people were more law abiding and respectful is a change which has taken place irrespective of our ages so don't make it sound as though it's our fault for getting old.

I can't speak for anyone else but my outlook is the same as t was in  the 40's and 50's. I expect no more or no less than then. Just that people should behave as though they were civilised.

It is not my perception but plain fact that we used to have beautiful un-vandalised parks (and streets) and now we haven't.

You may be happy to spend your time in places that look like tips and you may believe that throwing litter in public places is fine.

Those of us who were properly raised to respect public property are more discerning.

Enjoy the squalor if that is your thing.

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Guest makapaka
1 hour ago, Organgrinder said:

You are wrong on all 3 counts.

The fact that people were more law abiding and respectful is a change which has taken place irrespective of our ages so don't make it sound as though it's our fault for getting old.

I can't speak for anyone else but my outlook is the same as t was in  the 40's and 50's. I expect no more or no less than then. Just that people should behave as though they were civilised.

It is not my perception but plain fact that we used to have beautiful un-vandalised parks (and streets) and now we haven't.

You may be happy to spend your time in places that look like tips and you may believe that throwing litter in public places is fine.

Those of us who were properly raised to respect public property are more discerning.

Enjoy the squalor if that is your thing.

Total rose tinted glasses nonsense.

 

Missing the good old days of street gangs, slum

housing, polio and world war. 
 

 

 

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