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Dingle, Liverpool, England, UK, Earth (Real)A BTEC National Diploma In Comp Studies Essay Extract
Date: 1992/03/22 Agree? Disagree? : Have Your Say Buy Books About This Topic At: Amazon UK Amazon US Send This Article To A Friend: Email It Use Telepathy INTRODUCING THE DINGLE This is the area of Liverpool where I, Roy McPartland, live and thus seemed to be a logical place to conduct my research. The Dingle is a densely packed urban area of roughly one square mile with few work places apart from commercial premises. Its population is expanding reasonably quickly, which adds to the problem of its housing shortage. An added problem is that a high proportion of the population of the area are unemployed. As this area is not a district of the city, but a community, it is extremely hard to show on a map. A rough guide to the parts of the city know as the Dingle would be from Upper Warwick Street to Aigburth Road, and from Grafton Street to Princes Road. This text has been taken from my part of a group assignment the aim of which was to define what constitutes leisure, and highlight the leisure facilities in three areas of Liverpool. I decided to set about finding as much information as I could about the leisure facilities in the Dingle; this is a summation of this research. I felt that I needed to use one such facility as an example of the best that the Dingle had to offer. The Park Road Centre for Sport seemed an ideal opportunity to do this. Mrs. Mary Hill, the receptionist, helped me considerably when I asked her about the range of activities at the centre. FINDINGS Sport in the Dingle is quite well catered for with two council-run sports centres not to far for each other (the Toxteth Sports Centre and the Park Road Centre for Sport, which will be focused on later). There are also numerous places where it is possible top play "footie," a local variation of the well regarded pastime of soccer, but without as many rules. One of these places is adjacent the Toxteth Sports Centre and is frequently uses by local amateur teams, as it was built by the City council for local use. But it's not only the organized groups who can use it; anyone can at any time, but it is mostly uses by children, young(ish) adults, and people (usually male) in their 20s to 30s. The local police have even set up a sports club association, with the aim to bring sport, the police, and the community together. Not everyone is fond of physical exertion, and for these people there are twenty nine pubs to choose from, catering for everyone over eighteen. The older females of the community seem to make a beeline for the eight privately owned clubs (four of these offer bingo halls), while most of the men just want to be left alone for a couple of hours in the area's six betting offices. Those people who wish to broaden their minds have a choice of two council- run adult education centres, or there is the Toxteth Library, with easy access for the disabled, and even easier access for the able-bodied. Failing that, they can just select a stimulating video from one of the area's four commercial video hire shops (although access for the wheelchair bound, as with pubs, is less than perfect). The Dingle's children are able to participate in various activities in youth associations (church, charity, and council run), ranging from table tennis to indoor five-a-side football, and the vary young can be supervised in numerous day centres and playgroups, helping young parents find time to do other things, such as working or studying. I would now like to give an example of one of the best leisure facilities the Dingle can provide: the Park Road Centre for Sport. The Park Road Centre for Sport is an average size, local council run, leisure centre providing for the local community. It is built around an eighty-four year old wash house and swimming pool, with a sports hall added in 1984 (which has just recently been enlarged) and it is in the process of fitting ramps for the disabled. Its size, however, conceals the fact that there is only a limited amount of sports facilities to offer for able-bodied people, and even less for the not. See the article Park Road Sports Centre for more information. The sports that are strongly catered for at the centre are swimming and gymnastics. The enlarged sports hall is dedicated to gymnastics, and the training provided by the centre is of a world class nature; indeed, many of the junior English champions have attended and trained there. This may or may not be a good thing for the Dingle. CONCLUSIONS In general, there are quite a lot of "pubs" and clubs, which cater to customers of any gender from eighteen and over, and you receive what you want (for an exuberant price) but access for the disabled is poor and children are either not allowed in or are bored rigid. There is also the fact that alcohol is a large causing factor in many violent acts, which are detrimental to the neighbourhood. The three bingo clubs (populated by 45+ year olds) are well used. Although bingo is a form of gambling, the stakes are low (but so are the prizes), and the people who play the game use it as an excuse to meet friends, talk, etc. The value for money for the game is low, but for the socializing it is not too bad. There is a reasonable, busy library which caters to all the community, young, old, male and female. No question of value for money here as the lending of a book costs nothing. Sports facilities and opportunities are abundant, which is good for the physically active (male and female between 2 and 70 years old, usually able-bodied) but not much use for those people who can not or do no want to take up sports such as aquaerobics, football, etc. The profusion of bookmakers is a sad sign of the times, being frequented by the bored, the unemployed (this includes the 16-18 year olds), and basically anyone who hopes to win a large amount of money. These places give an extremely low amount of value for money, and unlike bingo games, people do not socialize in these establishments. Also they offer no entertainment value for the young or the disabled. There is hope, however, as there are two adult education centres, for those that wish to get out of the unemployment rut, or any one else who wants to learn something new (except people under 16, who are still in compulsory education). For the unemployed courses are free, and for the working the course fees are very reasonable, giving a fair amount of value for money. The youth clubs in the Dingle are well used and appreciated buy the children and young adults of the area, with a small entrance fee. Apart from these clubs there is not many facilities on offer for the young, apart from the aforementioned sports centres (and even) bookmakers. This may point to the reason for the emigration from the Dingle to other parts of the city by young people. In my opinion, the Dingle is quite poorly provided for in the leisure sector, with only a limited rang of facilities on offer to the various social groups being targeted, the young and the disabled of the community are the people being the least targeted. The following is a leisure index of the Dingle area of Liverpool: ADULT EDUCATION CENTRES City of Liverpool Community College, Windsor Street Site,
Windsor Street
Shorefields Community School and Adult Education Centre,
Dingle Vale
BOOKMAKERS Dick Brown Racing, 122 Mill Street
Mersey Racing, 478 Mill Street
Oakfield Racing, 442 Mill Street
Reliant Racing, 60 Park Road
Stanley Racing, 115 Windsor Street
William Hills, 204 Park Road
CLUBS AND BINGO HALLS Beresford Social Club, 125 Parkhill Road
East & West Toxteth Social Club, Park Road
Mount Carmel Social Club, 33 High Park Street
St Malachy's Social Club, Beauford Street
St Patrick's Memorial Hall, Park Place
Top Rank Ltd., Park Road
United Services Club, Hawkstone Street
LIBRARIES Toxteth Library, Windsor Street PLAYGOUPS AND DAY CENTRES The Elms Day Nursery, 1 The Elms
Shiela Kay Day Centre, High Park Street
PUBLIC HOUSES AND BARS The Alexandra, 135 Upper Hill Street
The Angelsea, 94 Beresford Road
Angel Vaults, 29 Stanhope Street
The Bankhouse, 144 Windsor Street
Bleakhouse, 131 Parkhill Road
Clancey's, 102 Mill Street
The Crown, 120 Park Road
The Derby Arms, 365 Mill Street
The Dingle, 268 Park Road
The Empress, 93 High Park Street
The Farmer Arms, 64 Park Road
The Globe, 44 Park Road
The Grapes, Windsor Street
The Great Eastern, 102 Mill Street
The High Park, 187 Park Road
The Jolly, Hawkstone Street
Peter Kavanagh's, 2-6 Egerton Street
The Pheonix, 125 Cockburn Street
The Pineapple Hotel, 258 Park Road
Poet's Corner, 27 Parkhill Road
The Prince, 2 Bessemer Street
The Queen's Arms, 100 Admiral Street
The Queen's Head Hotel, North Hill Street
The Royal Oak, 1 Upper Warwick Street
The Showboat, 6 Mill Street
The South Hill, 2 Menzies Street
The Star, 22 Warwick Street
The Toxteth, 141 Park Street
The Volunteer, Park Place
The Wellington, Mill Street
The Windsor Castle, Windsor Street
SPORTS CENTRES AND ASSOCIATIONS Merseyside Police Sports & Social Club,
F Division Admiral Street Station
Park Road Centre for Sport, Steble Street
Toxteth Sports Centre, Upper Hill Street
VIDEO HIRE SHOPS A.H.F Video, 236 Park Road
Videoland, 168 North Hill Street
Warwick Video World, 43 Warwick Street
Windsor Video, 121 Winsor Street
YOUTH CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS Belvidere Youth & Community Centre, Miles Street
David Lewis Association, Upper Stanhope Street
Toxteth Tabernacle, Baptist Church Park Road
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