We cannot express strongly enough to you what pleasure our Street Snooker and
five a side football equipment is giving our village residents, from youngsters to adults.
The village of Middleton St George has grown so quickly over the last few years from a population
of 2,000 to almost 5,000, mostly young families.
This has been a major problem for the parish council in trying to accommodate
all youngsters and getting them to mix together. In the early days we found a problem with the
existing teenagers objecting to the new residents moving in on what they considered their
territory, consequently we experienced a huge rise in anti social behaviour and youngsters
ending up in trouble with the police.
We realised the main interest amongst both boys and girls was sport but we had
no facilities. I have to say that Street Snooker has fit this bill perfectly. On our official
opening day we invited the local Police to play in a team against the village youths and set
up teams of youngsters playing together. This has created exactly the competitive atmosphere
that was needed. It is lovely and refreshing to see how well these young people of all ages are
mixing and the respect this game has given to individual youngsters who previously did not feel
they fit into the area they live in.
Playinnovation definitely re-define the term “multi use” so that sport can be
enjoyed by even more user groups.
Many thanks again on behalf of all at Middleton St George
Regards
Doris Jones
