Tales From The Park.

As mentioned in a previous post, I worked for seven years on the Arran Park housing estate in Prestwick, South Ayrshire. The Arran Park estate was built in the mid 1950s and consisted of 72 flats grouped into 6 Three storey buildings named after places on the island of Arran, clearly visible on a good day from the end of the road. Ajoining Arran Park was the Woodpark Estate, built in the late 60s which consisted of 6 blocks of maisonettes, 10 maisonettes to a block. I had responsibility for keeping the public areas of both estates clean and tidy, and as it was put to me at the job interview "being the council,'s eyes and ears on the estates'. The latter half of the job description was where a good deal of discrection was needed given that I lived there for most of the period as well as working there.

When built, both Arran Park and Woodpark had been inhabited by predominantly mining families , the men being employed mainly in the Glenburn pit but with the decline of mining and the passing of the older generation, the estates had become by the late 80s when I moved there, something of a dumping ground for families and individuals with social and medical problems, but without the drugs problem which was to become rife by the time I had to leave the job in the early part of this decade. Juvenile crime was though, a constant factor during my time there, excaerbated by the removal of the one community worker who had a positive relationship with the kids. We certainly had our fair share of criminals but break ins and car thefts on the estates were rare with people sticking to the unwritten rule which ran on a good few estates in the area that you did not rob your own.

We certainly had our share of eccentrics and charactors, and having set the scene, I shall be returning to them in the days and weeks to come.

On the quiet days.

When little is happening here.