Health and Fitness in Falmouth and Penryn

Alec Matrav e r s Al i sta i r Ru f f F e rgus Col e s L i ly R i t t e r Matt Lodey Rh i a nnon Pool e Samue l J e f f r ey

r e s e a rch r e portdocument i n g e x e rc i s eand ac t i v i t y t r ends i nfa lmouth and p en ryn

no us e w i t hout p e rm i s s i o ncontact : a l i sta i r . ru f f@gma i l . c om

Community Research time-plan

17th

18th

19th

20th

21st

22nd23rd

24th

25th

Mind maps exploring initial ideas/

issues. Identify key area and chose

appropriate research methods.

Observe behaviour at Ships and Castles

Produce games for School visit

Conduct interviews at Gylly Beach and Ships and Castles

Collate and analyse results

Write briefsComplete presentation

and practice

Contact Ships and Castles to arrange visitDesign Questionnaire for interviews at Ships and Castles and Gylly

Beach

Design research games to

be played at school visit

Observe behaviour at Gylly Beach Contact local primary

schools and scout groups to arrange visitInterview Ships and Castles employee

(lifeguard)

Attend arranged school visit to establish

further research opportunities

23 4 20 6 2

Gyl lyngvas e b e ach - F r i day 1 3 : 0 0 - 1 4 : 0 0 - Obs e rvat i o n o f u s e

:5 :30+

h i ps a nd Cast l e s pool - Sunday 1 5 : 0 0 - 1 6 : 0 0 - Obs e rvat i o n o f u s e

25 16 13 15 3 2105

+ :67:16

Col l at ed Obs e rvat i o n Stat i st i c s - Fa lmouth L e i s u r e Fac i l i t i e s

P eop l e p r e f e r do i n g ac t i v i t y w i t h

company , wh e th e r th i s b e human or c an i n e .

L e s s p eop l e a p p e a r to e ngag e

i n ac t i v i t y dur i n g we e kdays th an on we e k ends

9721 26

Samue l Gla z e b rook - Sh i ps a nd Cast l e s l i f egua rd - I n t e rv i ew

On a Sunday afternoon, we observed a high amount of father and child groups, is this common?

Are there any initiatives to encourage pool use by families?

Are there any noticeable problems with the facilities at the pool?

Do the users of the pool use more than one facility, or only attend specific classes?

Do most parents swim with children?

Yes, that’s an interesting observation, I’m not sure why, but it is common.

During the holidays we hold ‘Fun sessions’ designed for children and families. On Friday evenings we have the ‘Wave Rave’ with music, mainly attended by 8-15 year olds. Of course there’s also the weekly lessons.

Mostly yes, but there is a noticeable amount that will sit on the side whilst their child swims.

It doesn’t cater for ‘real’ swimmers, nowhere in Falmouth does.

There is a big uptake of evening exercise classes, but as far as I’m aware people only ever attend one class, or do one activity at a time.

Conclusions of Gyllyngvase beach observation -

Observation at Gyllyngvase beach provided useful information but as with all observations it had distinct limitations. Attempting to categorise people into specific groups was difficult without speaking to them directly and establishing exactly why they were at the beach on that day and that time.

We specifically intended to gather quantitative data regarding the use of one of Falmouth’s main outdoor ‘facilities’ for exercise, due to weather and the time we visited the overall use was low but we were still able to draw useful conclusions.

We noted particularly that very few people used the beach alone, the majority of users were walking a dog or in a group, whether these may be family groups or friendship groups.

During the time we observed (Friday - 13:00 - 14:00) there was, as expected, very few family groups in attendance. This was expected as all children of school age would have been in school, and the majority of parents would likely be working in some capacity. The only family groups were either parents with children below school age, or above school age.

Conclusions of Ships and Castles Observation and staff interview -

Observation at ships and castles also prevented its own problems, specifically the time we observed. The attendance at the pool is naturally greatly affected by what classes being run at the specific time of day. It is likely that we would observe very different groups of people using the facilities at different times of the day, in a much more regimented pattern than any outdoor space. This is backed up by comments from the lifeguard who confirms that the timetable incorporates various specific classes at different times.

At the time of our Observation (Sunday - 15:00 - 16:00) we noticed a large amount of Father-child groups, another observation backed up by our interview with the lifeguard. We recognised the need to speak to those attending to be able to draw major conclusions from these observations; this will be our next method of research.

From the interview and observations we noticed a feeling that the majority of users of Ships and Castles are children, it seems that parents do not feel able to engage with the facilities that are available.

Gyl ly b e ach u s e r s - Wednesday 1 3 : 0 0 - 1 4 : 0 0 - I n t e rv i ews

Who do you use Gylly Beach with? (Walking Dogs, running, swimming, general leisure)

Do you consider walking (alone or with dog) exercise?

What Other forms of exercise do you undertake?

Alone Family/Friends Both alone and in groups

Yes No

Swimming Squash Gardening Aqua Aerobics

BadmintonRunning Gym Classes Kayaking Horse riding Wii fit

Do you use indoor or outdoor facilities?

Do you think Falmouth provides sufficient facilities for family exercise?

Do you think existing facilities are inclusive for all ages?

Outdoor Both

Yes

Yes

No Unsure

Unsure No

Indoor

Gyl ly b e ach u s e r s - Wednesday 1 3 : 0 0 - 1 4 : 0 0 - I n t e rv i ews

Conclusions drawn from Gyllyngvase beach interviews -

Overall, the spontaneous interviews held on Gyllyngvase beach were successful with people happy to speak after we had established that we were conduction research for a University project and more importantly that it wouldn’t take too much of their time.

From earlier observations at the beach we noticed a large amount of people either walking dogs or walking socially and were keen to establish the motives behind these actions. Did the people consider it exercise of was it primarily about walking the dog or meeting friends? From interviews we established that the majority of people would consider the walking as exercise but it wasn’t the primary motive for the activity, which tended to be the social aspects of the activity.

As we are conducting the research in Cornwall, an area renowned for its outdoor spaces, we were keen to establish where people engaged in exercise, did the surroundings encourage them to exercise outdoors? Overall there was a fairly even split, although people enjoyed the outdoors, people were keen to use equipment and classes that were held indoors, naturally the weather was also important in this decision as many noted that heading outdoors in Cornwall is ‘risky’.

We were keen to establish how the residents in Falmouth felt about the provision of leisure facilities, particularly whether they were inclusive to the range of ages and people groups in Falmouth. There were issues raised with Ships and Castles which are discussed further in the interviews held at the pool. Many were keen to point out that Falmouth’s best facilities were the outdoor spaces which are accessible to all, regardless of age or ability.

Difficulties such as weather limited the number of people at the Beach and issues with wind and sea noise prevented us recording the interviews effectively, however we were able to gather useful qualitative data.

Ships and Castles - Wednesday 16:00-17:00 - Interviews

What facilities does your child use at Ships and castles?

Does your child use the pool/leisure facilities with other people or alone?

Is this your child’s main source of fitness?

Are there any facilities that you would like to have access to or to be improved?

Do you feel the facilities are inclusive to families?

Does your child enjoy the facilities?

Alone

No

No

With Others Both

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Swimming lessons

Conclusions from Ships and Castles Interviews -

There were many difficulties with conduction interviews at Ships and Castles, we sought permission to conduct them but there was a very confused system as to who we should obtain this from. We were eventually able to conduct the interviews but the majority of people were either in a rush to attend a class or leave a class. For obvious reasons people were not happy for us to film or record the interviews as many of them had children with them and again were in a rush.

We were keen to establish whether the residents of Falmouth feel the leisure facilities were adequate for the size of the town and inclusive to the wide variety of ages and people groups in Falmouth

Many people responded that Ships and Castles is very much child-focused with nowhere to for ‘proper’ swimming. It was also noted that there is almost not classes specifically for teenagers past 15, with classes being targeted at young children (swimming lessons and Wave Rave) and adults (aqua aerobics and Dawn Dippers).

The problems encountered at Ships and Castles were symptomatic of the rest of the project. We had great difficulty in being able to gain access to children’s opinions during a short period of time. Schools were interested in the project as it was an important issue to them but as they are busy places were not able to accommodate activities at such short notice. At Ships and Castles parents weren’t keen to allow us film or record interviews with their children but we were able to get some opinions from them.

Chosen Briefs

- Design a system or product that en-courages parents to engage in physical activity with their child/children

- Design a system or product that encourages children to participate in walking with their parents along coastal paths

- Design a system or a product that motivates individuals to exercise even when alone