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Glasgow
Green ......open air Gymnasium
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Old gymnasium bars and rings at the Glasgow
Green next to the sonnie
ponn.
I remember these "instruments of torture"
there were metal rungs like a ladder which you
jumped up
and grasped then tried to get to the other end
...one hand at a time and parallel bars and
big metal rings on chains.
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Well I could think of no better time than a
cold, wet, dreich Glesga day to take this
photograph.........sadly this is all that
remains of our open air gymnasium. ( see
coloured photo below )
Note : houses in the background are Greenhead
Street tenements. |
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Extract
from messageboard Jan 2004, Ronnie,
London
Although I dont remember anyone actually
referring to it as the 'gymnasium,' I do
seem to remember a notice board beside it
stated that it was such. Also I dont
remember referring to them as the 'swings',
because for some reason I knew they were not
swings.
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Extract from messageboard Jan
2004, Wilma, Canada
Aye ah remember the gymnasium in the Glesca
Green. A remember the big boys used tae swing
oan the rings and them hing heid doon and legs
up in the air. They must have always been
broke tho' as they never drapped any money oot
o' there pockets. We used tae play there
often.
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Extract
from messageboard Jan 2004, Memaw, Canada
I, too, remember seeing
young men strutting their stuff on the hoops
and bars ( not booze bars!) in Glasgow
Green. Longed to have a go myself, (not at
the men, I was too young) but my ma would
have belted me. What a healthy outlet for
the juvenile aggression, (the bars, that is,
not the belting!) Mind you, many of the
healthy young bodies went for cannon fodder,
anyway, sad to say! Or used their raging
hormones running in gangs, unfortunately!
War, one way or another.
I suppose that
insurance liability has a lot to do with the
disappearance of this
equipment.
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Greenhead Street with
'Templetons' in the background. |
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Extract from messageboard Jan
2004, johnmcla, USA
......that's wherr a spent maist o ma
childhood days, learnin the "tricks" oaf the
aulder fellas that wiz wullin tae teach them
tae onybuddy that wantit tae learn thim. Ah
goat as far as the Giant Swing - ye dae a
handstand oan the high bar, then let yersel
fa' gaun back, haudin oan, so ye
went aroon the bar, up tae handstand
again. Bit thur wiz a variation, wher ye'd
chinge hauns goin roon and roon, at the tap o
yur swing, which wid send ye in the ither
direction. Rerr feelin, wanst ye goat the hang
o it. Gaun yersel!
Except wan eftirnin, a loast ma grip, went
flyin away oot ther, an' landed oan ma knees
oan the gravel away the hell oot, near the
edge o the path, skint masel real good. Geez,
ma knees widnae work right fur months!
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