Did your school have a climbing frame folded against the walls of the hall? Did you ever get to go on it?

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One of the DC mentioned earlier something about never getting to go on the big climbing frame in the school hall and it unlocked my own memory of never getting to go on the big climbing frame in the school hall 😂

I went to 3 different schools from 4-16 and between them my DC have been to at least 7, and now we've discussed it none of us ever remember anyone getting a go on the big climbing frame in the hall. Going to ask DP about his memories of this when he gets home!

Yes and yes. There is one at my children’s school and they also get to go on it.

Yep!
Several pull off the wall climbing gym equipment. The massive fold away trampolines that you had to stand around and 'spot' the person jumping and push them back on if they're about to bounce off!
Also had those solid wooden beams to balance on etc

Yes - the apparatus!!! We didn’t to go on it loads, but definitely a few times!

Yes and yes. One boy fell off it and broke his arm.

Yes and no

Oh yes the beams! We all remember using those - they also doubled as seating in assembly at my primary school but only for the older kids, the little ones sat on the floor - and the crash mats and gym horse thing.

The apparatus!! That’s unlocked a memory!

No, never … and I was a kid in the 70s when Health and Safety didn’t exist

THE APPARATUS that's what it was called!!

They were not there at the primary schools I attended, but at senior (Grammar School late 1960’s) had what we called ‘Wallbars’ in the Gymnasium, which were used for Gym (P.E.), though we usually only got to use the Gym when the weather was too bad for outdoor sports, and that was driving rain/snow.
At primary school, there was ‘The Apparatus’, which rarely got put out in the playground for P.E.

Yes but I think like once

There is a whole subreddit dedicated to The Apparatus!

Yes we had the big climbing nets that you pull out, we had races on them until one horrible lesson where a boy climbed up got his leg tangled and fell backwards. I can still hear the snap now 🤢

We never used it again after that.

Well yes same, I can sort of see why nobody lets children go to the top of the school hall on a climbing frame now but in 1985 everyone was definitely a lot more relaxed...

No way 😂 I'd forgotten what it was even called, but I knew it had a special name.

Yes. The best day at school was the day you got to get "the apparatus" out. We even had ropes that hung from the ceiling for rope climbing but they were taken away after one boy fell from the top and broke both legs because those thin blue mats they put under were completely pointless.

Once I think and ended up falling on my head 🤣. Then my mum had to pick me up incase I had concussion. Maybe that's why I never got to go on it again 🤣

That apparatus! Now that’s a name from my past!

Oh what a magical day when the apparatus came out.

Yes never used and about 10 ropes hanging from the ceiling that I never saw used that were on a little rail. It was an all girls school, I’m not sure teenage girls are renowned for having the upper body strength to climb 4 metres not to mind needing 10 of them.

Yes, very occasionally at secondary school in the 80s. Tbh I think our head teacher loathed PE as our lessons were often 35 minutes long which included changing at either end, not sure how any PE teacher was supposed to achieve anything with that. I seem to remember doing each sporting activity once only which wasn’t a bad idea, got a big range of experiences.

We had massive square wooden ones, and would hook the long benches on to make ramps and bridges. We also had ropes that hung from ceiling height, and children would climb them. (Woe betide you if you swung on them!)

Our absolute favourite PE lesson was Jungle, when all the climbing frames were opened up, all the ropes hanging, all the benches and vaulting horses put out and hooked up, and you had to make your way through the jungle without touching the floor, and without being touched by any of the ropes that the teacher would set swinging.

My dc’s primary schools had tiny versions of these fold-out frames, benches and horses. They would be used a few times a year, especially in winter. There was balancing, but no real climbing, certainly no ropes, and the children rarely got to go more than 1m above the floor.

Yes, it went up several metres and we only had those inch thick foam mats around them. Amazed there weren't more accidents.

Yes! The Apparatus!

Yes and yes. Also had a tall climbing frame in the tarmac playground.

There's one at DC's school and they use it. I was collecting from afterschool club one day and a child fell from the top just as I walked in. He was fine, just winded, but it was swiftly put away!

However, I called it 'the apparatus' to DD and she had no idea what I was talking about which made me a bit sad