Rain or shine, our at-a—glance guide will see you through. Events are listed under outdoors or indoors columns, and then divided by city. Kids listings compiled by Gabe Stewart.
Outdoors
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Activities and Fun
I Mugdoclt Conservation Volunteers Craigend Visitors Centre. Mugdock Country Park. Craigallion Road. near Milngavie. 956 6100. Sats 23 and 30 Apr. 10am—3pm. Free. Come and muck in at Mugdock.
I Watch the Birdies Resource Room. Mugdock Country Park. Craigallion Road. near Milngavie. 956 6100. Sun 24 Apr. l—4pm. Free. 8—13wyears. Leam birdwatching skills from Jonathan
IN E A T R E MUSSELIUIOH
SOMETHING FOR CHILDREN
PUDDOCK THE CLOWN
in jOOGLIE WILKIES SATURDAY, 23 APRIL I994 AT 2.00PM
Suitable for children of all ages
VISIBLE FICTIONS
present
PEACEMAKER
by David Holman
SAT, 14 MAY 1994 AT 2.00PM Suitable for 5-8 year olds (p1-p3) TICKETS FOR ALL
PRODUCTIONS: £3.00 (FULL), £2.00 (CONCS)
BRUNTON THEATRE BOX OFFICE I 6 6 5 2 2 4 0
03I
Osbourne of the RSPB. Bring binoculars. I Tree Planting Scottish Conservation Projects. Wester Common. Firhill Basin. Contact Tom Fogden. 429 2112. Sat 23 Apr. 1pm. Free. Plant a tree with Scottish Conservation Projects.
EDINBURGH
Activities and Fun
I light ilike Pikes Pool. meet at the Pavilion. Alison Park. Kirkliston. 447 7145. Fri 29 Apr. 8—10pm. Free. Want a night out but can‘t get a babysitter? Then take ’em with you. With this event. you and older children can enjoy the sounds of the woodlands at night.
I Sunday Ramble Hermitage of Braid (meet at Midmar Road Car Park). 69a Braid Road. 447 7145. Sun 1 May. 11am—3pm. Get your children a real appetite for their tea. with a six-mile exploration of the natural and social history of Blackford and the Braids. Bring a packed lunch and comfortable walking shoes.
Indoors
Theatre
I Tales of Finn Clydebuilt Puppet Theatre journey back in time to a land where magical things can happen in a captivating story blending life-sized body puppets and shadow theatre. Garthumlock Community Centre 774 2895. Tue 3 May. 1.30pm. £1 (50p). Bishoploch Residents Hull, Easterhuuse 773 0705. Wed 4 May. 1.30pm. £1 (50p). Gavan UCRC 445 4263. Thurs 5 May. 1.30pm. £1 (50p).
I Glasgow Generatiqu Larkfteld Centre. 39 Inglefield Street, Govan. 424 1797. Wed 4 and Fri 6 May. 8pm. £1 (50p). 7:84‘s unique project revereates Glaswegian children’s expenences and ho Des for the future.
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Activities and Fun
I What Makes a Plant Tick? Schools Activity Area. Exhibition Hall. Royal Botanic Gardens. inverleith Row. 552 7171 ext480. Sun 1 May. 10.30am—12.30pm. £4 (£2). Through a series of simple experiments on leaves. stems and roots. explore some of the chemical and physical processes that go on in a living plant.
I Clambers Adventure Play Area Royal Commonwealth Pool. 21 Dalkeith Road. 667 7211. Mon—Fri. 10am—8pm; Sat and Sun 10am—5pm. £2.50 for one-and-a-half- hours. 3—8-years. See panel.
Child of the times
Penelope Leach, widely regarded as Britain’s answer to American childcare guru llr Spock, seems more flattered than agitated to hear that her new book, Children First, is considered ‘controversial’. Her critics say that we’ve put children first for too long, and are now suffering the consequences; Jamie Bulger and Suzanne Capper are the more horrific examples. Leach responds that such tragedies are the inevitable result of Western societies’ failure to provide children with an environment in which to flourish.
Leach has been accused of breeding a generation of unmanageable child monsters, reared on her 703 manual, Baby and Child. iler child-centred view of childcare and vocal opinions gave her a high media profile, and she’s now a prime spokesperson for the anti-smacking brigade. When childmlnder Anne Davis recently lost (and then regained) her right to smack children in her care, Leach hit the airwaves and newspaper columns with a vengeance. And now she’s back with another book.
If you thought this was an issue for parents only, think again. This is no manual on how to get Johnnie to eat his greens, but rather a manifesto, calling for a re-ordering of society’s
priorities to place children at the core. lion-parents may wonder, bemusedly, why? Because, Leach believes, society is children: ‘. . . the children we were, the children we have had, the children we have now and those they will have in the future.’ In the coming weeks we can expect to hear much more discussion in the media on the subject. You have been warned. (Gabe Stewart)
Children First is published by Michael Joseph at £14.99.
Jumping Jacks and Jills
A young person’s idea of heaven: a place where they can scramble, clamber, and climb. A parent’s idea of hell: when that place is your living room. Clambers Adventure Play Area comes to the rescue. Here, at this new multi-levei activity centre, children can do all the things they get yelled at for doing at home. Clambers opened earlier this month, and offers three levels of slides, tubes, ball pools to bounce in and lots of safe and soft surfaces to clamber over.
While the children pretend they’re guesting on ‘Finders Keepers’, you get to do a few lengths, enjoy the sauna, work out your aggression in the gym or just relax with a coffee. Yes, you can read a newspaper in peace in the adjoining Cafe Aqua, without having to keep tabs on the kids all the time. Although the area is not run as a creche, trained staff supervise it at all
times, and there’s a logging system. But even if junior should make a bid for freedom, their undetachable security tag will sound off the alanns. The soft and safe surroundings make the play area especially suitable for children with special needs. it can also be booked for children’s parties. What makes this so different from existing soft play areas is the size, not so much in ground meterage but in height (over twenty feet high) which takes away any sense of claustrophobia, and makes for an exciting but safe multi-level sense of adventure. So next time you feel a case of the Tigger bounces coming on your little ones, save your sofa springs, save your sanity, and head for the pool. (Gabe Stewart) Clambers Adventure Play Area, iloyal Commonwealth Pool, 21 liaikeith Road, Edinburgh, 667 7211.
Cinema
I Filmhouse Matinees Lothian Road. 228 2688. £2. Films start at 2.30pm. 23 Apr Treasure Island (PG). with Charlton Heston as Long John Silver and Richard Johnson as Squire Trelawny; 30 Apr Jim Henson’s The Dark C rvstul (PG).
Theatre
I Jooglie Wilkies Brunton Theatre. Musselburgh. 665 2240. Sat 23 Apr. 2pm. £3 (£2). Juggling. miming Puddok the Clown makes his debut and creates characters from everyday objects in this magical. musical puppet show.
I Mt Boom Assembly Rooms. George Street. 220 4349. Mon 2 May. 11am. £3 (£2). 3—lO-years. No introduction necessary.
OUTSIDE THE CITIES
Activities and Fun
I Farm Crafts Day Almond Valley Heritage Centre. Millfield. Kirkton North. Livingston. ()506 414957. Sat 30 Apr and Sun 1 May. £1.50 (75p). Victorian farming and dairying demonstrations.
I Children’s llewsdesk Creative Writing Group Motherwell Library. 0698 266166 ext 2549. Every Monday. 5.30—6.30pm. 9+ years. 1fyou're a budding newshound. here’s your chance to get involved in media research. interviews. feature writing and. photography. all within a newsroom atmosphere. You'll also be sent on news hunting ‘field trips’ . . .
74 The List 22 April—5 May 1994