The snake at coulby newham

Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret

Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret

Well-known member
There used to be a snake at the Parkway shopping centre which was used to trap children in whilst their parents went shopping. I spent many hours of my childhood stuck inside the snake on all fours in pitch darkness while the security guards tried to get fifteen children to back up as a fat kid had got stuck halfway round.

Apparently they were all designed by one Peter Hand, who had various child traps installed in shopping centres around the country. You can see how he graduated from frogs with crawl spaces that could trap one or two children at best to huge multilevel snakes that could contain 2 dozen children at once.

playsculptures.wordpress.com

The Play Sculptures of Peter Hand

Aylesbury Bradford Brent Cross Cambridge Chatham Kidderminster Leeds Manchester Middlesbrough Nottingham Poole Southend St Helens Wellingborough Wood Green Do the images here bring back memories of something similar encountered in a shopping centre when you were younger? Then read on! 'I thought...
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Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
There used to be a snake at the Parkway shopping centre which was used to trap children in whilst their parents went shopping. I spent many hours of my childhood stuck inside the snake on all fours in pitch darkness while the security guards tried to get fifteen children to back up as a fat kid had got stuck halfway round.

Apparently they were all designed by one Peter Hand, who had various child traps installed in shopping centres around the country. You can see how he graduated from frogs with crawl spaces that could trap one or two children at best to huge multilevel snakes that could contain 2 dozen children at once.

playsculptures.wordpress.com

The Play Sculptures of Peter Hand

Aylesbury Bradford Brent Cross Cambridge Chatham Kidderminster Leeds Manchester Middlesbrough Nottingham Poole Southend St Helens Wellingborough Wood Green Do the images here bring back memories of something similar encountered in a shopping centre when you were younger? Then read on! 'I thought...
playsculptures.wordpress.com playsculptures.wordpress.com
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How did you get stuck when it was in sections? Surely it would take about 5 minutes for some kids to crawl backwards 😂 it also had vents on the side for light and air else I imagine it would have been gross in no time at all

the boro one specifically:

playsculptures.wordpress.com

Middlesbrough

The Parkway Centre in Coulby Newham was home to an impressive, multi-level giant snake. RETURN TO HOME PAGE
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That was the genius of the man. He left gaps in the snake to offer a glimpse of freedom, but the gaps were too narrow to get out of. I say on all fours, but you were actually on your elbows as the space inside the snake was so narrow.
 
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
There used to be a snake at the Parkway shopping centre which was used to trap children in whilst their parents went shopping. I spent many hours of my childhood stuck inside the snake on all fours in pitch darkness while the security guards tried to get fifteen children to back up as a fat kid had got stuck halfway round.

Apparently they were all designed by one Peter Hand, who had various child traps installed in shopping centres around the country. You can see how he graduated from frogs with crawl spaces that could trap one or two children at best to huge multilevel snakes that could contain 2 dozen children at once.

playsculptures.wordpress.com

The Play Sculptures of Peter Hand

Aylesbury Bradford Brent Cross Cambridge Chatham Kidderminster Leeds Manchester Middlesbrough Nottingham Poole Southend St Helens Wellingborough Wood Green Do the images here bring back memories of something similar encountered in a shopping centre when you were younger? Then read on! 'I thought...
playsculptures.wordpress.com playsculptures.wordpress.com
Click to expand...
wonder why middle aged teessiders have unreal upper body strength and chronic claustrophobia?
 
I fell off it head first as a 7 year old I believe its the reason it's was removed. Circa 1989. Was found concust remember walking up on the general
 
TRUE STORY: Whilst at uni I went out got really drunk and returned to my empty house being sick and without keys. I decided the best option was to break into the basement via a small rotten wood window/hatch. Kicked it in and squeezed my self head first through into complete darkness. I thought I'd land somewhere amongst the floor and be able to make my way into the house from the kitchen. As it happens I slid down the wall and behind the space of another concrete structure. Completely horizontal, upside down and pinned between two concrete structures (still being sick) no one in the house, no one to help me out.. I honestly thought I was a goner. Either choke to death or die through some sort of asphyxiation. THEN a flashback.. or should I say several flashbacks.. to all the times i'd been stuck in the snake.. I went from face down to a hand stand press up position.. hoping I could move move my feet and get some purchase to allow me to turn upright. No such luck. Back into a resting/headstand position tried again. This time alternating between arms wedging an alternating forearm between the concrete structure and using an open palm on the concrete surface to push my body upwards. Horrific.. but I eventually managed to push myself back out of the void.

I have no doubt that I would have died had it not been for the wooden snake at coubly newham shops.
 
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newyddion said:
TRUE STORY: Whilst at uni I went out got really drunk and returned to my house empy house without keys and being sick. I decided the best option was to break into the basement via a small rotten wood window/hatch. Kicked it in and squeezed my self head first through into complete darkness. I thought I'd land amongst somewhere on the floor and be able to make my way into the house from the kitchen. As it happens I slid down the wall and behind the space of another concrete structure. Completely horizontal, upside down and pinned between two concrete structures (also being sick) no one in the house, no one to help me out.. I honestly thought I was a goner. Either choke to death or die through some sort of asphyxiation. THEN a flashback.. or should I say several flashbacks.. to all the times i'd been stuck in the snake.. I went from face down to a hand stand press up position.. hoping I could move move my feel and get some purchase to allow me to turn upright. No such luck. Back into a resting/headstand position tried again. This time alternating between arms wedging an alternating forearm between the concrete structure and using an open palm on the concrete surface to push my body upwards. Horrific.. but I eventually managed to push myself back out of the void.

I have no doubt that I would have died had it not been for the wooden snake at coubly newham shops.
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There's a movie to rival Touching the Void in that story.
 
theredrooster said:
"Goose, initiate the Tactical Chunder"
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‘The Snake’ was our Vietnam

I mentioned it in passing in town years ago and some lad overheard, rolled his trouser up to reveal a huge scar where he’d had an operation to fix his leg! So many knowing nods and acknowledgments.

Don’t think we had many academy lads in from coulby.. ‘the lost generation’

I wonder how many ‘Coulby Cafus’ or ‘Parkway Pirlos’ were lost to the snake?
 
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
That was the genius of the man. He left gaps in the snake to offer a glimpse of freedom, but the gaps were too narrow to get out of. I say on all fours, but you were actually on your elbows as the space inside the snake was so narrow.
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Any mention of that snake brings me out in a sweat. It was an incredibly stressful experience every time yet I kept going back in
 
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
That was the genius of the man. He left gaps in the snake to offer a glimpse of freedom, but the gaps were too narrow to get out of. I say on all fours, but you were actually on your elbows as the space inside the snake was so narrow.
Click to expand...
You're defo misremembering this cos I used to get in and out of the various sections. If you look at the images on the Wordpress site you can see there is loads of space to get in/ out of the sections; any blockage would be a couple of metres at most of backtracking. sometimes you'd meet someone coming the wrong way so would have to back up and come out one of the sections

Unless you were the fat kid and that's why you were in there so long 😂
 
Loved the snake. Went in it every day on the way home from St Augustines passing through the Parkway. I still remember the panic of getting stuck in it
 
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