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Risk and Play Discussion ForumAbout Paul CollingsBack to the Risk and Play Discussion Forum Born in Sheffield I trained as an Accountant and worked in several industries before coming across the German manufacturer Richter Spielgeräte GMBH who were looking for a British distributor. Despite being a "money man" I had come to believe in socially responsible businesses and I was very impressed by their child centred approach and environmental ethos. We came to an agreement and Timberplay was formed 7 years ago. Since then the business has gone from strength to strength and I've become passionate about children's play. At first I thought that I was missing a few tricks, the market seemed dysfunctional, with playgrounds being procured that were not child focused. Over time though and after talking through these issues with experts I've come to believe that it's not me, the market really is dysfunctional! Being lead by adult driven agendas and fears rather than childrens needs. Fortunately, change seems to be in the air. Of course one of the biggest fears is about risk and whilst there has been a lot of good work on this subject over the last few years with initiatives like the play safety forum statement and Playlinks work amongst others, it still remains a huge barrier to developing good play spaces. My company Timberplay are committed to doing our bit towards breaking down this and other barriers to good play spaces. We are working in partnership with the University of Sheffield and part of that work involves research around these barriers. Back to the main page. |
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