A Soft Play inspectors work is never done!

It’s been all too long since my last blog. The problem has not been an absence of inspections to report on – quite the opposite. It’s been one job after the other and trying to squeeze in enough office time in between to write up all the reports. Something had to give hence the silence. It’s quite interesting to do an overview of a busy period like this. Altogether there have been 12 inspections of which 5 have been annuals and 7 post-installations. There were 9 new or established Play Centres to visit, 2 new Leisure Centre facilities and 1 new facility in a Special School. And taken overall there have been 6 different suppliers. Geographically it was another case of travelling all points of the compass, from Durham down to south of the Thames and from the Norfolk coast across the Irish Sea to Counties Louth and Meath.

Monday: Up the A1 North to the lovely county of Durham and a well-established Play Centre’s Annual Inspection. Always a pleasure to go there and always a warm welcome.

Wednesday: If I tell you I have been trying to work out a route to avoid the congestion charge you’ll know where next – London! Two large and busy Play Centres both heaving with customers. A long day and strenuous work with much driving. Climbing around two large play frames is one thing. Going through all the necessary safety operations with the manager is another and all have to be looked at within the wide scope of an annual inspection. Exhausting!

Thursday: A job nearer home – Birmingham and a towering new five-storey play frame to inspect. Installation team still on site so the few findings can be immediately addressed. I like that.

Friday: To the East Midlands for another annual. Went there last over two years ago and it’s always interesting to see if changes have been made.

Tuesday: Down the M5 today and to a Special School in fashionable Cheltenham. Very proud of their new school being built alongside the old one and thrilled to have a brand new soft play room to explore. As a former teacher I always accepted the essential role of play in education and it’s good to chat with those still in that worthy profession.

Thursday: To North London and a new indoor play facility in a Leisure Centre. After the strain of the last few weeks decided to combine the trip with a short cultural break with Veronica. Chelsea Flower Show was just so impressive and equally so in a totally different way was the West End production of Waiting for Godot. Never did understand the plot but what superb character-acting and stage-craft from Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart! Awesome!

Tuesday: Back down to earth and another new Leisure Centre soft play facility to inspect, this time situated right on the breezy sea front in North Norfolk. I couldn’t resist a large tub of salt-fresh sea-food salad after the job! You’ve earned it I said to myself. And so I had.

Wednesday: Now it could be argued that the last thing a person of my advanced years needs after a long journey to Norfolk is a 4-00 a.m. start the following day to catch the East Midlands to Dublin flight. I wouldn’t dissent from that but it had to be done. Two post-installations later and a late flight back, my bed beckons!

Friday: Not sure where Thursday went – I think I slept through it! But no rest today – off to Dorset for yet another post-installation. Roll on the weekend and our final jazz concert of the current season.

Monday: With the strains of an 18 piece jazz band still ringing in my ears it’s off to Yorkshire for one more annual this time triggered by a small child’s accident. Fortunately the injury was not too serious but all accident investigations are distressing and all need to be taken very seriously.

Nick Balmforth is an inspector of Soft Play areas and is renowned for his expertise and knowledge of creating and operating safe Indoor Play areas. This blog is an excerpt of his diary which he shares with the Shareandcompareplay.com community in the hope that regular communication and insight will benefit the industry and raise standards.