Playdale - The Story of Playdale

1. Introduction
In my essay I am going to tell you about the working history of my family, in the past, present and future. My dad, John Croasdale is the ninth generation of the working Croasdales and was the person who introduced Playdale in Haverthwaite with my Grandpa, Jack Croasdale. The Playdale family business has made timber playground equipment and built playgrounds for 25 years. Gillian Croasdale, my Auntie also works with Playdale now. Back to top

2. Family Tree – Nine Generations
In the early 1980’s, Jack Croasdale, my grandpa, did a lot of research into the Croasdale family tree, he looked at many documents and church registers and tracked my family back to the late 1600’s. He discovered that nine generations of Croasdales had been living in the Leven Valley, all working mainly in timber and some metal industries for over 275 years. (The Leven Valley follows the river Leven from Lake Windermere. It starts at Newby Bridge and goes through Backbarrow and Haverthwaite). Back to top

The Nine Generations of Croasdales
Henry	1695 – 1770	Cooper
James	1726 – 1721	Cooper
Henry	1752 – 1807	Hooper
Isaac	1794 – 1844	Hooper
James	1829 – 1906	Woodmonger & Farmer
George	1866 – 1947	Woodmonger
George	1874 – 1971	Timber Merchant
John (Jack)	1929 – 1998	Timber Merchant
John	1957 -	Playground Manufacturer
Hannah		Playground Test Engineer
Ben		Playground Test Engineer

3. Early Generations
Henry 1702 – 1770
Henry Croasdale, in 1735, re-shafted a spade and re-runged a ladder for Finsthwaite Parochial Church Council for 1s 5d which would now cost about 7 pence.

Isaac 1794 – 1844
In 1834, Isaac built many of the old work buildings at Bridge End, where my Grandma and Grandpa lived. He sold provisions and had a licence to sell wines spirits and tobacco. He owned a boat which reportedly used to take goods to Liverpool docks and bring cotton back for the Cotton Mill at Backbarrow. When he was only fifty someone at the Liverpool docks accidentally dropped a bale of cotton on his head and killed him. My Grandpa wondered if it was actually an accident. The swivel chair from his boat is now in the Playdale Board Room in front of an old oak Roll Top Desk which belonged to my Great Grandfather George.

James 1829 – 1906
In the late 1880’s my Great Great Great Grandfather, James, farmed at Woodcroft Farm up the hill in Haverthwaite village.

His wife, Eleanor had seven children to keep in order, which would explain the rather stern look. The new factory and offices were built in a field that was called Pennycroft, which was a part of Woodcroft farm over 100 years ago.

Hooper's, Coopers and Woodmonger's
Over the last 275 years, Croasdale’s have been Hooper's, Coopers, Woodmonger's and Timber Merchants until the 1980’s. Hooper's were people who made the metal hoops that went round wooden barrels and Coopers were people who made the barrels. The barrels were used by the gunpowder works at Low Wood and Black Beck near Bouth. Woodmonger was the name given to people who worked in timber and wood. My relations also used to make other wood products, such as ‘swills’. A swill is like an open basket which is used for carrying things around the house, like washing and firewood. Back to top

4. The Timber Merchants
George Senior, George Junior and Jack, my Grandpa were all Timber Merchants. Timber merchants buy large individual trees or groups of trees in a forest or wood. The main tree ‘Butt’ and the bigger branches would be sold to sawmills to make furniture and fencing. Some timber poles were used for tunnels in the mines.

George Jnr. Outside the Devonshire Arms
(now ‘The Pig and Whistle’) in Cartmel, in 1920

Tree Felling and Extracting Timber
Woodcutters used to chop the trees down with big long saws and axes, then they would chop all the small branches off for firewood. Chain saws were first used in the 1950’s.

The timber was dragged out of the woods by big ‘Shire Horses’ and later by tractors and cranes. My Grandpa used to have about 12 horses and my Dad used to ride on these into the woods in the holidays when he was a small boy aged 7. The last of the horses was used in the early 1970’s.

Loading and Transporting
The trees were loaded onto big ‘carts’ using the ‘three legs’ system. More recently they would be loaded onto wagons which would take the trees to the sawmill. Sometimes the trees would be taken to the Haverthwaite Station Yard by horse and cart where they would be loaded onto bigger wagons using the big crane at the station, before going to the sawmill. In the 1970’s wagons were fitted with cranes to load the timber in the wood straight onto the wagon. My Grandpa used to sell these cranes to other Timber Merchants in Great Britain. Back to top

A photograph showing an eight ton ‘butt’ of timber being loaded onto a wagon using the ‘three legs’ system, This took place in 1923 in a field called the ‘Shamles’. Opposite the farm, behind Woodcroft House and Pump Cottage, you can see my Great Grandfather George on the right and his brother James on the left.

5. History of Timber and Metal Manufacturing in the Leven Valley.
People who live in the Leven Valley have always made things from wood and steel. The famous Iron Master John Wilkinson worked in a blast furnace at Low Wood. This was also a gunpowder works, and Playdale had a steel work shop there before they moved to the new factory. John Wilkinson spent money to build the first iron bridge in Coalbrookdale, and when he died he was buried in an iron coffin in Lindale, in 1808. Playdale now use timber and steel to make there play equipment in the leven Valley. Back to top

6. Playdale is born
In the summer of 1978 the playground equipment at Leven Valley Playing Fields in Haverthwaite, was very old and needed replacing.
My Grandpa was building the new community centre and he asked my Dad to get some playground equipment brochures.
When they arrived some of the equipment was constructed from timber logs and they thought that they could make our own, which they did, and some of that equipment is still there today.

In 1978 they built three other playgrounds and in 1983, stopped the old timber business and built playgrounds instead. They have now built over 4000 playgrounds, and the furthest they have travelled is to Romania. Back to top

7. The Old Playdale Works at Bridge End
For many years before the new factory was built Playdale worked half a mile away in the old timber yard at Bridge End.

Playdale had been at Bridge End for 18 years, working in a collection of old workshops, barns, stables and sheds. They made nets in the bottom floor of an old cottage, painted plywood panels in the top floor and paint sprayed in an old garage. With Steel fabrication in the ‘Old Gun Powder Works’ in Low Wood and offices in my Grandma’s cottage bedrooms, there were 56 different work areas. In the new factory there are 14, which is much better for working.

I remember every time I went to my grandparents house, when I was about three, my grandpa used to lift me up onto the big filing cabinet in the main office. I also remember when the tide came in and flooded the office I went down with my Grandpa and he paddled in to get something, probably some important files. Back to top

The old Playdale Works - Home of Playdale for 18 years

The new Factory and Offices.

8. New Factory and Offices
In the early 1970’s the present Playdale building was a purpose built Dairy Complex for milking cows. Playdale had run out of space in their work shops and offices at Bridge End, and when the farmer who rented the Dairy Complex retired in 1987, Playdale bought the farm buildings and the land that stretched down the railway line to Greenodd. When they bought the building included in the sale was 250,000 litres of milk quota, but they didn't need all that milk quota or all that land because they just wanted to build playgrounds, so they sold the milk quota and a small part of the land.

The factory they wanted to make was a cow shed so they hired some people and they set off working. First they used heavy equipment for demolition work and soon all that was left was the concrete frame of the old building. Then they started to build a roof, they then put scaffolding up to build proper strong walls, they then built walls for the offices, the roof was tiled and the Playdale signs were placed on the wall, and last of all they decorated the inside offices, so they were nice and clean.

The factory was opened by the famous mountaineer, Sir Chris Bonington. Sir Chris Bonington was impressed by the way the factory blended into its setting, and he said, ”It is a model of its kind, and it is an immense honour to be associated with a company that has made such harmonious use of the natural environment.” Back to top

9. Product Design and Safety
Playdale has seven product designers and every week or two, all the product designers get together and have a sort of brainstorming session to come up with new playground designs. When they have found a detailed suggestion that everyone agrees on and thinks that it is good, it would take them just about less than two years to finally complete and have the playground built.

All the work that has been put into making and designing the playground is all worked out on computers and all the modelled playgrounds on the computer are all 3D. When the playground they have been working on is completed, they get some children to be ‘test engineers’ for them, test engineers are just to test things and be careful because they might not be as safe as they could be, and so they can see if they need to improve anything (I am a ‘Playground Test Engineer’ for Playdale and so is my brother, Ben.)

International Exhibition Awards
On the 5th of September, 1995, Playdale won the Silver Merit Award for outstanding stand design and layout, at the annual IOG Exhibition. This is a big International Groundsmanship exhibition held at Windsor Racecourse every year, where about 22 manufacturers of playground equipment set up some of their products for people to see. On the 3rd of September, 1996, Playdale Playgrounds won the Gold Merit Award. And on the 3rd of September, 2002, Playdale Playgrounds won the Bronze Merit Award.

1996 Gold Award winning ‘Everest’ tower unit, Windsor.

Julia Nicholson receiving the Gold award.

The Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards

Certificates and Kitemarking
In the main office all the awards and certificates are neatly displayed on the wall for all to see. So far there are nine certificates and three awards but the employees are hoping for more certificates and awards.
Most of the certificates are called Kitemark certificates, which certify that the built products are trusted and are approved of by safety standards and quality. Back to top

10. Making the Playground Equipment
Playdale has 24 people manufacturing playground equipment, there are over 3,000 different parts of equipment, and each part of equipment is unique because it has its own reference number. There is a production list that shows the reference numbers and how many there are of that item. There is another list that is called the Works Order that lists which part they need, how many they need, when it has to be ready by and how many are needed. When they produce the items they make extra and the extra ones are put in stock. All the materials are from different countries, for example they get the Timber from Norway. Back to top

11. The Sales Team
In the sales team there are eight Area Sales Managers and one Sales Director each sales person covers several counties. If someone wants a playground building whoever covers that county goes to see the customer, the sales person fills in a Quote Enquiry Form with the customer. This information will help the playground designers to draw up the playground scheme. The sales person then has to take a picture of where the playground is to be built, and if the land is flat enough and people agree, the playground will be built, the sales person sends off an outline of the area where the playground is to be built to his sales co-ordinator, a sales co-ordinator is someone that backs the sales person up and checks all the Quote Enquiry Forms. In Playdale there are three sales co-ordinators. There is one Sales Director and his job is to keep all the sales people in order, and he is responsible that the sales people do everything correctly and sell things correctly. Back to top

12. Playground Planning and Design
Playdale has 8 playground designers and the Quote Enquiry Form is used again to use the outline of the sketch that the sales person drew, the sales person had written all the details on what the customer wanted. There are different sizes of paper to work on like A1, A2, and A3, the designer draws an outline on the computer, because everything is done on the computer, and then a plan is drawn, then they insert pictures of the play equipment that the customer wanted, when they are happy with their design they print it off on their giant printer and then the laminate it. If it is big they role it up and put it in a big tube with the Quote, then they give it to someone that sends it to the customer or the sales person to take it, it depends what it says on the form. Back to top

13. Delivery and Installation
Playdale has 11 installation teams nation wide and two big wagons that carry the equipment, for example, if someone wanted a school playground building, a Quote Enquiry Form is given to the person and then when it is returned to Playdale the installation co-ordinators that look after the teams, it tells the installation teams if they can get the lorry through the gates etc. If they can’t they would have to use wheelbarrows to carry the equipment. Say if the lorry could get in, the installation team would have to put tape around the site where they are going to place the playground, and then they would get to work on building the playground. Playdale have even used a helicopter to reach a difficult site on a cliff top in the Isle of White. Back to top

Playdale have even used a helicopter to reach
a difficult site on a cliff top in the Isle of White

14. The most popular playgrounds Playdale have built
Hyde Park
The Hyde Park playground is situated in London next to where the ‘Horse Guards Parade’ do their training. Playdale, in 1989, were asked to build a playground there. It was opened by the Princess Royal who was introduced to my Grandpa, Jack Croasdale. After 13 years, in 2002, they asked Playdale to build another playground, so they must have liked the old one to ask Playdale to build another one.

Falkirk - Iron Bru & Tizer Playground
Falkirk is situated in Scotland near Edinburgh, Playdale have just recently finished the playground, they finished it at the beginning of 2003. The playground was sponsored by Barr’s, who make the drinks, Iron Bru and Tizer. The playground equipment is themed with the Iron Bru and Tizer colours, which you can see on the pictures. It was built for a visitor centre where there is a massive rotating lift on the canal that lifts boats from one level to another; the rotating lift is there to replace a long line of eighteen lock gates.

‘Heal the World’ in Romania
In 1992, my Dad, John Croasdale, received a phone call from a man who wanted Playdale to build a playground for a big orphanage in Bucharest, Romania, for 500 children. That was the furthest Playdale had ever been to build a playground, the man did not say who wanted the playground to be built, so the designers and installers got to work, they built the playground in the factories and sent it in a massive lorry to Romania, six people went along too, when they arrived in Bucharest, they discovered that MICHAEL JACKSON was the mystery client, and he wanted the playground for his Michael Jackson ‘Heal the World’ foundation. When Michael Jackson opened the playground my mum managed to take a photo of him, sticking his thumbs up at her and the other people to say thank you. Back to top

The ‘Heal the World’ site in Romania

Michael Jackson opening the Orphanage Playground

The Story of Playdale (The Playground Company)

The Story of Playdale
(The Playground Company)