We don't often get out for the day now at work, so it was a rare chance to go to another play centre in Stevenage today for a meeting of the PPA (the Play Providers Association). The meeting was held at a fantastic new centre called 360 Play (so called because they're open 360 days of the year). It had only been open 6 weeks and was absolutely stunning in terms of things to do with the children and the facilities. They're in a completely different league to us!
We weren't able to arrive at the start time of 10am as we had things to do at work before we left but we were able to get there at just after 11am. Dad's new SatNav was playing up and when he took it off the windscreen to try and reset it, she kept barking at him to "Turn right on Alley!!" even though we were on the M1. We stopped to sort her out and obviously I had the right touch beacuse from then on she behaved and took us straight to the door!
360 Play is situated on a Leisure Park with cinemas, restaurants and other leisure venues all around, so a bit different to us in our little industrial estate! We walked in and the Manager met us, telling us we could either go and see an Activ Kids demonstration or we could go upstairs and have a general chat with the other members. Thinking that the Activ Kids stuff would be good at work we plumped for that (it was more my idea really) and went and sat down on some very low benches.
The man giving the demonstration started talking and told us not to worry, we wouldn't be doing any hard exercise, just some moving about to see for ourselves what Activ Kids do...we all looked at each other in alarm and my Dad wagged his finger at me, looking none too amused! We were then told to all stand up, move the benches against the wall and start walking around in a circle. Like idiots, we did what we were told but when he told us to start skipping, we fled! There was no way I was going make myself look like a total idiot and my parents agreed with me!
We escaped to the restaurant area and met another play area operator who'd walked out of the demonstration as well. She said it wouldn't work in a play area as all the children wanted to do was play and we had to agree. Phew! We had a lucky escape! We had a chat with her and then the Manager of 360 Play rounded us up and tried to get us to go upstairs. Dad was far more interested in having a cup of coffee and looking around but we were eventually presuaded to go up to one of their party rooms where the rest of the PPA members were sitting.
We're not actually members yet, I hasten to add. Joining has many benefits with the most attractive being a 5% rebate for what we spend at Booker. As we spend a hefty amount there every week, joining for that reason alone would make it worth it and offset the cost of membership.
We tiptoed into the room and found a seat at the back, listening in to the conversation about adult parties at some of the play centres. One place in Portsmouth holds regular adult nights and sleepovers for over 18s! The mind boggles! It's certainly something I wouldn't want to do at our place! There were quite a few pretentious prats there, using the stupid "business speak" that gets up my nose and which they think makes them seem very important. Why they can't just use plain English, I do not know.
As a small family business - which has probably been running longer than most of them have been working - we felt a bit out of our depth, but there were some very friendly people there and some organisations desperate for our business. Indeed, when we stopped for lunch we were assailed by reps who wanted to know our email address and phone number.
One of the managers of 360 Play sat with us and she was very down to earth so it was great to swap horror stories about our industry and to know we're not alone! We'll definitely be joining and making use of the forum where we can all seek help and guidance.
We had to leave before it ended as I had to pick up Sophie from school to take her back to work with me. Gladys MKII took us on a very different route back to Junction 12 of the M1 but we were back at work before 3pm and getting ready for two parties in the evening.
I stayed with Sophie until she finished just after 6pm and then it was home and time to relax!
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