Yesterday I went with my usual climbing partner to investigate a new climbing wall in Oldham.* It is a first-rate venue and we enjoyed yourselves thoroughly. One of the striking features of the place, however, was the relatively large space devoted to the children’s climbing area. In conversation with one of the staff we were told that this (together with the cafe) makes economically viable the “serious” climbing area.
Several years ago I was invited by the Leeds Wall to design and construct a children’s zone, which I did. (A picture is included in the “Not only …. but also” gallery of this web-site.) It was well received by the kids, but was eventually abandoned as uneconomic. It seems that although the core idea was a good one, the mistake was to treat the children’s climbing area as a mere side-show to the main wall. For various reasons it is clear that Leeds could not have done what they have done in Oldham, redesigning the entire space so that the kids had the larger space, subsidising the adults. Even so, I am gratified very much to discover that my concept was a good one. I can’t help but wonder whether the designers at Oldham had ever seen my experimental venture, and were perhaps inspired by it. Whether this is the case or not, clearly I was ahead of my time.
*Its title is a wonderful play on words …. “Summit Up”. If you are familiar with the Pennine dialect you will recognise it as a play on “summat up”.