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Heritage sites and places are often mobilized to represent a group's identity and sense of place and belonging. This paper will illustrate how heritage and museum visiting, as a leisure activity, facilitates or impedes recognition and redistribution in direct and indirect ways. Drawing on extensive qualitative interviews with visitors to 45 heritage sites and museums in the USA, Australia, and England, the paper demonstrates the importance of emotions in mundane struggles over recognition and misrecognition. How emotions uphold or challenge investments in heritage narratives are examined. The paper argues that heritage and heritage‐making is a valuable focus of analysis that reveals the nuances of how people sustain or impede claims for recognition and redistribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Contemporary mobilities research has demonstrated a fundamental blurring between work, leisure and tourism practices for migrants as they seek to construct new lifestyles whilst maintaining connections with their homelands. The purpose of this paper is to present some of the results of a research project that analysed the work and leisure experiences of Polish migrants living in the North East of England using a mobilities theoretical approach. In this paper, the authors focus on the reasons influencing their migration and their leisure and tourism mobility practices. Design/methodology/approach: The results are based upon a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods gathering a sample of 90 questionnaires and 11 focus groups. Findings: Based upon a statistical analysis of the questionnaires using SPSS and textual analysis applied to the focus group transcriptions, different gendered work, leisure and tourism mobilities were identified relating to family attachments and social ties. Research limitations/implications: The authors argue that seemingly mundane leisure and tourism practices can often be a catalyst for greater mobility, and this mobility has significant gender dimensions. Originality/value: This paper thus provides new insights into the interweaving of different gendered work and leisure mobility practices based upon empirical findings of Polish migrants to the North East of England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over recent decades, the arts have become a popular response to dementia. Amidst wider concerns with accessibility, widening participation and audience diversity, coupled with greater attention to creativity across dementia studies, many arts organisations are now offering dementia friendly initiatives. While dementia friendliness has been well-established for almost a decade, the meaning of friendliness remains vague. This paper reports results from a study of how stakeholders navigate this nebulousness when developing their own dementia friendly cultural events. To assess this, we interviewed stakeholders working for arts organisations in the northwest of England. We found that participants built up local informal networks of knowledge exchange, sharing experiences between stakeholders. The dementia friendliness that characterises this network centres on the crafting of vibes that enable people with dementia to 'unhide' themselves. Through this accommodating approach, dementia friendliness converges with stakeholder interests, becoming something of an art form in its own right, typified by active embodied experience, flexible and creative self-expression, and being in-the-moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commuting between home and work is routinely performed by workers and any wellbeing impacts of commuting will consequently affect a large proportion of the population. This paper presents findings from analyses of the impact of commuting (time and mode) on multiple aspects of Subjective Well-Being (SWB), including: satisfaction with life overall and the SWB sub-domains of job satisfaction, satisfaction with leisure time availability and self-reported health. Measures of strain and mental health (GHQ-12) are also examined. Six waves of individual-level panel data from Understanding Society (2009/10 to 2014/15) are analysed, providing a sample of over 26,000 workers living in England. Associations between commuting and SWB are identified, paying particular attention to those arising from individual changes in commuting circumstances over the six waves. It is found that longer commute times are associated with lower job and leisure time satisfaction, increased strain and poorer mental health. The strongest association is found for leisure time satisfaction. Despite these negative associations with the SWB sub-domains, longer commute times were not associated with lower overall life satisfaction (except where individuals persisted with them over all six waves). Workers in England appear to be successful in balancing the negative aspects of commuting against the wider benefits, e.g. access to employment, earnings and housing. Differences amongst selected population sub-groups are also examined. The job satisfaction of younger adults and lower income groups are not found to be negatively associated with longer commute times; longer commute times are more strongly negatively associated with the job satisfaction of women compared to men. With respect to mode of transport, walking to work is associated with increased leisure time satisfaction and reduced strain. The absence of the commute, via working from home, is associated with increased job satisfaction and leisure time satisfaction. Overall, the study indicates that shorter commute times and walkable commutes can contribute to improved SWB—particularly through the release of leisure time. But life satisfaction overall will only be maintained if the benefits of undertaking the commute (earnings and satisfactory housing/employment) are not compromised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of male strip shows marketed towards heterosexual women has called into question the idea that only men can 'gaze' or be 'sexual scrutinizers' in public leisure spaces. This paper details the findings of an ethnographic study of a male strip event 'Cheeky's',1 located in the Midlands, England. Utilising observation, informal interviews and photography, the paper describes the physical environment and the atmosphere of the event, and analyses interview data with female customers. The paper questions what spaces such as Cheeky's mean for female sexualities, sexual roles and desires. The findings are twofold. On the one hand the club was a relatively novel sexual space, as some women spectators experienced it as an 'empowering' space in which they could be 'sexually aggressive'; on the other hand, the character of the club was actively and adeptly manufactured by the Master of Ceremonies (MC), and male dancers, so as to encourage - and even to coercively elicit - extrovert behaviour from women customers. Despite shifting normative gendered expectations of women's sexual behaviour to some extent, ultimately the club structured women's sexual experiences around traditional heterosexist lines. The club did not encourage women's autonomous sexual expression, and many women claimed they had not found it a very 'sexy space'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in unprecedented restrictions on citizen's freedom of movement as governments moved to institute lockdowns designed to reduce the spread of the virus. While most out-of-home leisure activities were prohibited, in England the lockdown rules allowed for restricted use of outdoor greenspace for the purposes of exercise and recreation. In this paper, we use data recorded by Google from location-enabled mobile devices coupled with a detailed recreation demand model to explore the welfare impacts of those constraints on leisure activities. Our analyses reveals evidence of large-scale substitution of leisure time towards recreation in available greenspaces. Indeed, despite the restrictions the economic value of greenspace to the citizens of England fell by only £150 million over lockdown. Examining the outcomes of counterfactual policies we find that the imposition of stricter lockdown rules would have reduced welfare from greenspace by £1.14 billion. In contrast, more relaxed lockdown rules would have delivered an aggregate increase in the economic value of greenspace equal to £1.47 billion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Talks about topics discussed during the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers in London, England. Recent developments in tourism and leisure; Explanation concerning the term creative tourism; Views related to critical reappraisal of tourism and sustainability.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the delivery of preventative services for older people from third sector organisations (TSOs) and the extent to which current commissioning arrangements enables the aspirations of policy to be achieved. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews with key-contacts within a sample of TSOs which had been identified by directors of Adult Social Services as delivering one of the top three preventative interventions in their local authority area. Findings – There was evidence of considerable trust between local authorities and TSOs and as a consequence TSOs were given autonomy to develop holistic and integrated models of delivery that supported rather than diverted the TSOs' core missions. Both sectors found it difficult to set target outcomes and connected performance frameworks for preventative services. As a consequence a major element of the commissioning cycle is not being completed and TSOs cannot be confident that they are using their resources as effectively as possible. Research limitations/implications – This study was based in one English region, and would benefit from being extended to other English regions and home nations. Practical implications – Universities, policy makers, commissioners and the third sector need to work together to develop common outcome frameworks for preventative services and to gather consistent data sets that can be more easily synthesised to give a "realistic" understanding of the impact of different interventions and delivery models. Originality value – The paper contributes to the limited evidence bases of commissioning of TSOs and preventative services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses Active People Survey data (collected 2011/12 to 2015/16) on 789,196 English adults, providing new information on how a range of socio-demographic factors are associated with utility and leisure cycling. Substantial inequalities are found in relation to gender, age, disability, and ethnicity for both types of cycling. For gender and age, and perhaps for disability in relation to recreational cycling, inequalities are moderated by local cycling prevalence such that English authorities with more cycling see less inequality. For education and car ownership, the picture is more mixed. Individuals with higher educational levels are more likely to participate in leisure cycling, but within most English local authorities this association is absent for utility cycling. Car ownership is negatively associated with utility cycling, but positively associated with recreational cycling. The paper’s discussion section puts these inequalities in context, and discusses the significance of the fact that some inequalities seem to be less pronounced or even absent in some contexts. It is argued that more research and a broader conceptualisation of cycling inequalities are needed to better understand and address inequalities in cycling participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Against a background of research and national statistics that consistently show that educational participation and achievement of young people in and leaving care is significantly lower than is the case for the non-care population, previous research has shown the positive impact that social, leisure and informal learning activities can have on the educational participation and achievements of young people, and particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The UK: Care Matters Green Paper stated that involvement in leisure and social activities can have a positive impact on the self-esteem of young people in and leaving care and upon their educational attainment and later success in the labour market. This paper reports on the English results of a cross-national study of young people from a public care background and their pathways to education in Europe. Using case study examples it explores the impact that social, leisure and informal learning activities can have on educational participation and educational pathways of young people in and leaving care. The paper argues that, in view of these findings, encouraging and supporting young people in and leaving care into these types of activities should be a priority for social care professionals, carers and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The transfer to partnership in public sector management has created significantly new modes of service delivery, and is suggested to be the best means of ensuring that disadvantaged groups are socially included. The purpose of this paper is to examine New Leisure Trust (NLT) structures in public leisure provision relative to direct, in-house managed facilities and privately run Leisure Management Contractor (LMC) facilities. In particular, NLTs receive significant government funds and subsidies through tax breaks that are not forthcoming to rivals, which raises questions as to whether NLTs deserve such aid for delivering upon the social inclusion agenda of the government. Design/methodology/approach – The research involved a national survey questionnaire to 1,060 public leisure service providers in England. Empirical testing through multiple analysis of variance and regression analysis was applied to the dataset. Findings – The authors find that NLTs do not follow social orientation strategies to any significantly greater degree than rivals, nor seem to create social inclusion to any greater degree. Further, NLTs have the least to gain in terms of business performance from creating social inclusion, whilst in-house (in particular) and LMC facilities stand to gain the most. Practical implications – Though each approach to provision examined places a considerable strategic emphasis on being socially oriented, they are not effective at increasing the social inclusion of recreationally disadvantaged groups. Originality/value – This paper calls for the current public leisure management playing field to be levelled in a rebalance of opportunity and investment through the removal of anti-competitive measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the politics of recreational access to the natural environment has long been associated with walking, there is growing recognition that other forms of access can, in political terms, be more problematic. One such case is recreational access to inland waters in England and Wales, which has long been dominated by the oppositional politics of anglers and canoeists. Recognising the limitations of conventional evidence-based approaches to policy-making, this paper offers a phenomenological perspective on the politics of water related recreation, suggesting that approaches to the ‘solution’ of access problems may be found by understanding better the lifeworlds of those involved in the debates. This is illustrated by reference to a recent official inquiry into access along inland waters in Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Promoting recreation in the National Parks of England and Wales has emphasised quiet forms since their formation. Elson and colleagues for the Sports Council in 1986 drew attention to the organisational and image problems of motorised sports, and after the Edwards committee’s review of National Parks (NPs) in 1991 attitudes of some NP Authorities to motorised sports have hardened. Taking a 20-year perspective, the paper describes the background to powerboating and off-road motoring and the policy attitudes of the English NPAs in particular to off-road motoring and powerboating, Through the Land Access and Recreation Association the former have managed, with some opposition, to become part of the policy network, and persuaded the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) to adopt a Hierarchy of Trail Route and a management system. At the same time, waterski and powerboat interests were very much outsiders, and against a phalanx of environmental opposition were effectively banned from Lake Windermere by a new Labour government, through the mechanism of a 10 mph speed limit. Both schemes may become a precedent for other NPs with some indications from Loch Lomond. The paper explores why these outcomes were so different, and the relationship between national policy and the local policy network. It also examines the consequences and impacts five or more years since the speed limit and Trails solutions [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores normalised drug use as an aspect of young people's leisure careers. Qualitative data generated by 24 single-sex focus groups with 153 (85 males; 68 females) 15-16-year-olds attending seven schools in north-west England and north-east Wales revealed that young people's drug use tended to be both heterogeneous and situation specific. Indeed, rather than being actively sought out, 15-16-year-olds' drug use was often characterised by propinquity - either in terms of place (e.g. parties), relationships (in particular, friends and peers), similarities of outlook and style (e.g. engagement in drug-oriented leisure) and time (in the sense of age cohorts) - and by sociability - especially as a means of enhancing friendships - as well as a search for pleasurable excitement in the company of others. Thus, the paper concludes that the illicit use of drugs by 15-16-year-olds can only be meaningfully understood when viewed in light of these leisure preferences that are among the social processes through which drug use can become normalised in some young people's leisure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the findings of a research project commissioned by a public body in the English Midlands, UK. Telephone surveys, focus groups and individual interviews were the data collection methods. It focuses on the perceptions of 44 families on the barriers to accessing leisure services for disabled children. Although there are numerous advantages for accessing such services, the findings showed that the families had very few successful experiences with the current provision due to a number of structural barriers. Trust was perceived as crucial to access these services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares two types of purpose-built recreational space - indoor climbing walls and outdoor fishing ponds - using participant observation and interviews with climbers and anglers in England. We show how these notionally 'indoor' and 'outdoor' spaces have strong similarities in terms of how they are used and perceived. We draw on literature about consumption and technology to demonstrate changing expectations and social norms about using each space. We also compare walls and ponds with supermarkets to highlight how this consumerist interpretation is used in a moral ordering of leisure behaviour. We therefore take a very different approach from research that emphasises sensation, risk and embodiment in outdoor leisure and adventure tourism. Instead, we show how such spaces reflect modernist domestication and control, problematising the indoor/outdoor dualism and emphasising the multiple experiences of environmental leisure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to an emergent but growing literature, which is focusing on large-scale data analysis of mass participation sport. Distinct from the existing literature, a model is proposed in which sport demand is examined relative to the demand for other leisure, a structure suggested by micro-economic theory. Based on new data for England, which has been collected by the government department responsible for policy promoting Sport, Media and Culture, it is shown that the demand for sports is dependent upon the demand for leisure for the activities defined by the data collection exercise. This qualifies the existing literature and has implications for current policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post-industrial countries, folk dance may be considered as an embodied performance of a perceived tradition and is representational of values attached to an imagined past. The English Country Dance is one such form of folk dance, having been revived, or re-invented, in the early twentieth century by Cecil Sharp who claimed it to be a national dance of England. However, Sharp re-defined it not as a popular and spontaneous leisure activity but as a serious middle-class art form representing an English sensibility and the virtues of a pre-industrial pastoral collectivism. After the hiatus of the First World War, the English Country Dance continued to offer a resistance to the modern, this time in the form of a burgeoning popular dance culture which embraced urban sophistication and jazz dance. Using the concept of performativity, this paper attempts to demonstrate that the leisure context of the English Country Dance, in terms of spatiality, style, consumption and gender, enabled a continuity of resistance to the modern in a changing socio-cultural environment. The paper draws upon primary research in the archive of the Manchester Branch of the English Folk Dance Society and upon records of contemporary dance in the Mass Observation archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the leisure narratives of three individual women who attended pole dancing classes once a week in a city in the North of England. The research was based on participant observation of pole dancing classes and individual interviews with 15 women, nine of whom were students and six were teachers. This paper uses the pole exercise classes as a departure point for an examination of how the women negotiated the time and cost, and how they motivated themselves to continue attending despite various difficulties which they faced such as childcare, pressures of work, unsupportive partners, or just general lethargy. A key part of the overall experience was the sense of achievement that they managed to attend at all. What added to the enjoyment of the experience was the sense of triumph that, yet again, they had overcome the odds and managed to attend, illustrating that for the women who somehow endeavour to find a way to attend, 'finding a way' is itself part of the pleasure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mega sports events offer potential as a social and economic policy intervention designed to stimulate personal and social capital. This paper explores this potential in the particular context of gender differences in the motivations and expectations of volunteers at the XVII Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002. It utilizes questionnaire survey responses from 698 volunteers at these games. The paper argues that while the volunteers shared the same characteristics as the wider population in terms of sports participation and volunteering, none the less the expectations of female volunteers were very different than their male counterparts and, more than males, reflected the expectation of using the Games to raise their personal and social capital. This suggests a clear potential for using sports interventions to overcome existing social obstacles to both entry into the labour market but also enhanced community involvement in sports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Excessive alcohol consumption among young people in England regularly features in national media and has been a focus of recent academic research and government policy. Though the majority of young people do not regularly drink excessively, heavy sessional drinking – ‘binge’ drinking – is associated with negative health and social consequences for those who do. Alcohol-related health problems in young people are not spread consistently across England, however, and while there are significant intra-regional differences, northern regions fare worse overall than those in the south. This paper draws on an 18-month project which explored differences in the physical, social and regulatory environments (highlighted by previous research as influential) in two locations with contrasting alcohol harm profiles. The paper focuses on the lives of 15–16 year olds and examines potential differences that influence behaviour at this crucial age; and in particular issues that might presage risky and/or harmful drinking in young adulthood. The study examines evidence from young people themselves (activity diaries and interviews); stakeholder interviews; and observation analysis. The study finds social practices in the two areas to be largely similar; moreover, the collectivised and social nature of alcohol consumption suggests sources of influence from a wider context, beyond immediate family and friendship groups. However these social practices were acted out in locations with very different physical characteristics, in particular these related to the availability of non-alcohol focused leisure activities and the spatial arrangement/visibility of adult drinking culture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose – Research to date has identified young people's perspectives on a number of health-related topics such as smoking, alcohol, sexual health, physical activity and healthy eating. Whilst this body of research draws important attention towards young people's views on topical health concerns, it arguably remains located within a pre-defined agenda; thereby marginalising young people's own, and potentially different, frames of reference when discussing health. In light of this omission, the aim of this paper is to examine young people's own understandings of health in line with their own frames of reference. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 55 young people aged 15-16 years through group discussions, individual interviews and observational data in a school and surrounding community settings. Key themes were analysed for their implications for "emic" conceptualisations of health. Young people's perspectives were further compared with accounts given by professionals. Findings – Two key themes emerged from young people's accounts: being happy and having fun. Young people's meanings of being happy highlighted the relational components of developing a positive self-belief, pointing to a number of socially located prerequisites for promoting their health. Discussions of having fun were understood as potentially liberating, resistive and subversive, but which exist in some tension with adults' discourses of risk and risk-taking. Originality/value – Examining young people's accounts points to the possibility of a more positive discourse on health – opening up new opportunities and insights for health promotion informed by concepts of empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Richard Phillips's Modern London, published in 1804, included twenty engravings of London scenes after the Welsh artist Edward Pugh. This paper will focus on Pugh's images of places of public resort, such as Hyde Park, Horse Guards Parade, and Greenwich Park. It will argue that Pugh offers a very 'modern' account of leisure time in such spaces, marked by the untroubled coexistence of different classes, and by images of children and their parents playing together, which are never seen in other contemporary representations of public space. To some degree, the jovial sentimentalism of Pugh's images conflicts with Phillips's differently modern account of London as par excellence the creation of the 'genius for gain' that animates the British people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of improvements in mobility and changing patterns of retail, the importance of market town centres to rural residents has diminished, leaving many vulnerable to decline and their contemporary relevance questioned. Based on experience from 11 case-study towns located throughout England, this paper considers the prospects for regenerating the fortunes of market town centres. It is argued that this can be achieved through an integration of functional concerns with an appreciation of the desire to develop 'spaces of consumption' where there is focus on the leisure aspects of town centre visits. Although a number of the issues are beyond the direct remit of spatial planners, an awareness of the implications of development management and the context within which decisions are occurring is crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many people during the early 20th century, leisure was not a voluntary expression of one's spare time, but rather a consequence of mass, long-term unemployment caused by a global economic recession. In the context of the British labour market, millions of workers in the 1930s were the hapless casualties of what was commonly described at the time as 'enforced leisure'. For these people, the relatively recent advancements in disposable income, leisure and social facilities, and living standards were of little relevance, in that they were forced to spend much of their time on the periphery of what were for most people everyday social activities. Drawing on Foucauldian theories of governmentality and archival research, this paper examines the ways in which early broadcasting sought to police the problem of enforced leisure and its perceived effects by rendering the experience and behaviour of the unemployed more governable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ways in which sixth‐form students in Milton Keynes negotiate their identities and the symbolic significance they attach to leisure activities in the process of doing this. The paper draws upon qualitative, young‐person‐centred interviews with sixth formers in state and private schools. We address the investments of sixth formers in constructing themselves as autonomous individuals and argue that they do so from a position of middle‐class subjects‐in‐the‐making. Through an inversion of Willis’ (1977) (focus, our concern is to make explicit the implicitly middle‐class identities sixth formers were forging. We argue that the identity‐work of sixth formers plays a part in the reproduction of school‐based class inequalities by pathologising working‐class students while constructing themselves as bourgeois liberal individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study completed in 2000 into the policymaking process for recreation and tourism in AONBs across England and Wales, with particular focus on the key influencing role of communication within this process. A number of practical measures, which might aid AONB communication and collaboration for policy development and implementation in the future, are derived from the research. In addition, the findings of the study lend weight to calls (current at the time of the research) for enhanced powers and funding for AONBs, particularly in respect of recreation and tourism provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper--based on data from a national survey of 14 and 15 year olds and their parents in England and Wales--examines the relationship between teenager lifestyles and activity patterns and self-report offending. The legal ways in which teenagers spend their time show consistent relationships with involvement in crime. Offenders and nonoffenders differ markedly on both general and specific measures where they go, whom they are with, and what they do. Consistent with models of criminal behavior based on group processes, these differences in activity patterns also extend to a number of the major correlates of delinquency whose effects on crime are typically conceived in lifestyle terms. These results further indicate that the link between activity patterns and delinquency is different between males and females in the age group surveyed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the role of scuba diving therapy in growth experiences of ex-servicemen. Previous research has focused on difficulties arising from re-entering civilian life after deployment. Known mental health challenges occurring after severe combat related trauma exposure include depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, less is known about the potential positive transformation which can occur when individuals navigate these challenges. Known facilitators of this positive transformation, often referred to as posttraumatic growth (PTG), are still sparse in this participant pool. This study utilized an in-depth qualitative approach of interpretative phenomenological analysis utilizing semi-structured interviews. A homogeneous sample of five male British ex-service personnel with a diagnosis of PTSD who identified with PTG was recruited. All participants reported positive mental health benefits from diving with four themes emerging: human connection; meaningful leisure; embodiment; and the calm. Scuba diving appeared to afford instant access to lasting relief of anxiety, stress, and symptoms of PTSD and reduction of physical symptoms of their trauma connected to underwater weightlessness. The reduction of PTSD symptoms carved space for PTG, facilitated through a meaningful leisure environment with opportunities for human connection with individuals who had gone through similar experiences. Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) respond less well to conventional treatments for PTSD than civilian populations. Scuba diving has the potential to benefit veterans by giving access to relief from anxiety and symptoms of PTSD, such as hypervigilance and invasive thoughts. Scuba diving not only reduces symptoms of physical and psychological ill health but can facilitate wellbeing and growth. Scuba diving, as a meaningful leisure activity, could potentially enhance medical and psychological therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There has been extensive conceptual and empirical work on the associations between social relations and health in recent years. However, the specific pathways through which social interactions impact on health have not been fully elucidated. The aim of this paper is to estimate associations between Leisure Time Physical Activity (LTPA) and social networks and support. Using data from a cross-sectional household survey in 40 disadvantaged lower super-output areas in London, we applied a multilevel model to investigate psychosocial and environmental determinants of physical activity in these populations. Our findings present a strong case for the influence of individual-level social networks on the level of LTPA, although the associations between the types of social support and LTPA were insignificant. We also found that crime rate was an important area-level correlates of LTPA. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The culture of gaming that pervaded eighteenth-century English society provided many opportunities for the rising middle classes. Not content with enjoying card play in many settings, the middling sort were quick to recognize and exploit the potential for profit in the fast-expanding leisure industry. This paper explores the formalization of card games, the rich material culture of card play, the advent of Assembly Rooms as new social spaces, and the growth of resort towns, all serving as case studies in the commercialization of England's leisure culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using findings from semi-structured interviews with international postgraduate students in England, this paper explores the meanings attached to the food they eat in a new culture. Our study, using interviews, aimed to uncover student responses to both the food they eat whilst abroad and to the food they have left behind. Many students criticised local English food as bland, fattening, and unhealthy; nevertheless, most showed an openness to new foods, trying not only local food but also dishes prepared by their international friends, but this sat alongside a strong attachment to their home country dishes. Eating together was a popular leisure activity, and food of the origin country or region was the most popular cuisine. Eating home country food offered emotional and physical sustenance; students felt comforted by familiar taste, and that their physical health was stabilised by the consumption of healthier food than was available locally. Despite acknowledgement of the importance of food to cultural identity and overall quality of life in the anthropology and nutrition literatures, there is a dearth of research into this aspect of the international student experience; this study, therefore, marks an important beginning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One of the seminal works in the development of British cultural studies was Richard Hoggart's The Uses of Literacy, in which he presents a vision of working class communities in the 40 years since the First World War. To do this he drew particularly on his experiences of Hunslet in South Leeds. In this paper we revisit South Leeds 40 years on to examine continuities and changes in the community as evidenced through people's leisure and compare this with Hoggart's analysis. To do this we have drawn on census and other official statistics and our own observation and interviews in the field. In order to interpret today's communities in South Leeds we make use of theoretical developments in the interim. We suggest that in what Bauman (1997) refers to as 'two nations society mark two' people try to reinvent community and it is through leisure in particular that this is evidenced. We therefore conclude that any attempt to understand 'community' at the millennium must place leisure centre stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dementia-friendly communities (DFCs) are one way in which people living with dementia can be supported to be active, engaged and valued citizens. Quantitative evaluations of the experiences of those with dementia living within these communities are scarce. This article reports findings from a survey of people living with dementia on their experience of living in a DFC. Two-hundred and forty people living with dementia completed a cross-sectional survey in six DFCs across England. Around half of respondents reported they were aware they were living in a DFC. Being aware of living in a DFC was associated with taking part in leisure activities (p = 0.042), community centre attendance (p = 0.009), being involved in organised activities or groups (p < 0.001), feeling understood (p = 0.008), and feeling valued for their own contributions to the community (p = 0.002). This study illustrates the contribution that surveys can make in facilitating the expression of views and experiences of people living with dementia. Awareness of living within a DFC is associated with greater involvement in, and belonging to, the wider community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the use of leisure spaces and leisure times by young men and women tourists in Torquay, England. Behavior of young tourists during their holiday in the beach-oriented resort; Importance of the young beach-oriented tourist to the tourism industry.

Neighbourhood planning was the first volunteer-led statutory planning tool to be created in the UK. Whilst it has provoked debate and critique covering numerous practical and theoretical aspects, little attention has been paid to the actual experience and motives of the volunteers who spend their leisure time by volunteering to prepare a plan. Given the range of leisure activities that have been shaped in the context of a neo-liberalised policy environment, we add to longstanding debates concerning the political nature of leisure and how neo-liberal policies require, and exploit, volunteer time and input while claiming to offer forms of empowerment. Qualitative data derived from neighbourhood plan volunteers is presented here to highlight the political work of neighbourhood planning, thus responding to calls to extend the analysis of the political in and through leisure. It is argued that neighbourhood planning pushes the boundaries of what can be legitimately asked of volunteers and expected in terms of delivering policy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skipton, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, is an old mill town that has seen tourists flocking to it since the arrival of the railway in the 19th century. Like many other old mill towns in northern England, Skipton has lost those mills-as-factories and the workers in them—and has struggled to retain a sustainable local economy. At the same time, Skipton has become increasingly gentrified, and has become a focus for day visitors and tourists attracted by the beautiful countryside seen when Le Tour de France came through Yorkshire in 2014. In this article, we explore the area of Skipton, dubbed the Canal Quarter. We focus on the leisure spaces that have opened there as attempts to construct alternative, authentic experiences around the consumption of real ale, the performance of live music, and the curation of second-hand vinyl records. We have previously explored how these might be shown to be a space for Habermasian rationality. In this sequel, we use critical theory to show how the alternative, authentic space of vinyl, real ale, and live music has already been compromised by two conflicting hegemonic powers: the cooption of leisure into the economics of tourism and tourism policy, and the meaninglessness of cool capitalism and Bauman's consumer society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loneliness in later life is a common problem with poor health outcomes. However, interventions to prevent or ameliorate loneliness have a weak evidence base. The views of older people experiencing or at risk of loneliness in the community are important in identifying features of potential support, but have been little studied. Twenty-eight community dwelling people, aged 65 and over who reported being 'lonely much of the time' or identified as lonely from the de Jong Gierveld six-item loneliness scale in a larger study, participated in in-depth interviews, between June 2013 and May 2014. Views and experiences on seeking support from primary care and community based one-to-one and group based activities, including social and shared interest groups, were explored. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Thematic analysis was conducted by a multidisciplinary team, including older people. Using two different measures of loneliness enabled a spectrum of loneliness experience to be explored. Two-thirds of the participants were the 'younger old' and all were able to leave their homes independently. Older people with characteristics of loneliness were generally knowledgeable about local social and community resources but, for the majority, community and primary care based services for their loneliness were not considered desirable or helpful at this point in their lives. However, group based activities with a shared interest were thought preferable to one-to-one support (befriending) or groups with a social focus. Descriptions of support as being for loneliness and specific to older people discouraged engagement. Older people experiencing or at risk of loneliness did not consider that primary care has a role in alleviating loneliness because it is not an illness. They thought primary care practitioners lack understanding of non-physical problems and that a good relationship was necessary to discuss sensitive issues like loneliness. For many, loneliness was a complex and private matter that they wished to manage without external support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families with children with disabilities can feel isolated during school holidays and concerns exist that they face greater difficulties than families of children without disabilities in finding enriching activities for their child. In the context of national policies that encourage integrated play, local service commissioners in England require evidence on what sort of short breaks parents and children prefer. The parents of 99 children with disabilities and 43 children without disabilities attending various holiday play schemes in summer 2010 completed mailed questionnaires. Parents of children with disabilities reported more difficulty getting information, less choice of schemes and further distances to travel than parents of children without disabilities. Although 72% of parents of children without disabilities and 55.5% of parents of children with disabilities stated integrated schemes would be suitable for their child, open text comments provided weaker support. Variety of provision is required to meet all needs and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the Give-it-a-Go programme, which offers free leisure centre memberships to physically inactive members of the public in a single London Borough receiving state benefits.Methods: A decision analytic Markov model was developed to analyse lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) of 1025 people recruited to the intervention versus no intervention. In the intervention group, people were offered 4 months of free membership at a leisure centre. Physical activity levels were assessed at 0 and 4 months using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Higher levels of physical activity were assumed to decrease the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and diabetes mellitus type II, as well as improve mental health. Costs were assessed from a National Health Service (NHS) perspective. Uncertainty was assessed using one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses.Results: One-hundred fifty nine participants (15.5 %) completed the programme by attending the leisure centre for 4 months. Compared with no intervention, Give it a Go increased costs by £67.25 and QALYs by 0.0033 (equivalent to 1.21 days in full health) per recruited person. The incremental costs per QALY gained were £20,347. The results were highly sensitive to the magnitude of mental health gain due to physical activity and the duration of the effect of the programme (1 year in the base case analysis). When the mental health gain was omitted from the analysis, the incremental cost per QALY gained increased to almost £1.5 million. In the probabilistic sensitivity analysis, the incremental costs per QALY gained were below £20,000 in 39 % of the 5000 simulations.Conclusions: Give it a Go did not significantly increase life-expectancy, but had a positive influence on quality of life due to the mental health gain of physical activity. If the increase in physical activity caused by Give it a Go lasts for more than 1 year, the programme would be cost-effective given a willingness to pay for a QALY of £20,000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As access to photographs and improved housing increased from the turn of the century, images of front and back gardens taken by or for householders became a popular form of domestic photography. While all kinds of streets were photographed in this way, those built for an expanding artisan and clerical class who migrated to London's 'bye-law' suburbs form a significant proportion of surviving images. Carefully delineated photographs of terraced and semi-detached house fronts and back gardens may be read as individual records of family advancement and personal celebrations of the space and privacy of the new homes. Yet specific forms of these photographs were designed for sharing beyond the family, creating a semi-public visual culture and a dispersed photographic record of the exteriors of the working-class and lower-middle-class suburban house. Using representative examples of two groups of these sources-photographic postcards and readers' photographs published in Amateur Gardening magazine-this essay explores how and why the inhabitants of London's outer suburbs presented themselves, at home in their gardens, to family, friends and fellow gardeners. It finds that both photography and gardening could be social pastimes, and that through their exchange, these 'suburban' photographs reflected and even consciously demonstrated social progress in the form of increased leisure time and self-contained space in which to exercise it productively at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By looking at sports facilities for non-professional players in England, this article explores early commercialization tendencies in sports that proceeded the process driven by the professionalization of sports in the eighteenth century. A growing demand for purpose-built sporting facilities gave rise to commercialized tennis courts, bowling alleys and greens in London as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century which mainly addressed upper class ‘gentlemen’. These facilities were not mere sports venues but created semi-public leisure venues where particularly men could meet outside their homes and enjoy sports, gambling, drinking and other entertainments together. They were also strongly embedded in a wider network of similar semi-public facilities such as alehouses, taverns and inns that offered multi-functional services. Taking the examples of London and Bath, the article explores the growth and organization of tennis courts, bowling alleys and greens on a local level, and how these were interlinked with other contemporary leisure and entertainment businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reviews the article "Leisure, luxury and urban specialization in the eighteenth century," by J. Stobart and L. Schwarz, which appeared in the periodical "Urban History."

Purpose – Dementia care is an issue of increasing policy focus, with person centred approaches becoming synonymous with quality provision in this area. However, the implementation and efficacy of this approach is difficult to measure and there are still huge variations in working practices, with task centred approaches traditionally predominating over more holistic forms of care. In order to address these issues the procedure of dementia care mapping has been developed, which aims to assess the wellbeing of people with dementia and other vulnerable groups through the observation of communal activities. This article aims to critically assess the implementation of a person centred approach. Design/methodology/approach – With the use of dementia care mapping, this article assesses the implementation of a person centred approach with a group of care home residents. All were female, their ages ranged from 77 to 92. Findings – It is shown that while participants potentially experienced many benefits from person centred approaches and the social engagement and integration that derived from this, its efficacy and impact was undermined by contextual factors such as staff shortages. Originality/value – In order that contextual factors are recognised and addressed, practice should transcend its focus on the promotion of individual wellbeing and address the wider group and social contexts which can facilitate or prevent its fulfilment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented which discusses the commercialization of leisure in eighteenth-century England and the rhetoric of diversion throughout English literature at the time. An overview of English leisure, including the patronizing of coffeehouses, reading, and the differences between popular and polite leisure, is presented.

Background: It is well-known that people lose friends after a stroke; what is less well understood is why this occurs. Aims: This study explored why people lose contact with their friends, and whether there are any protective factors. It also examined how friendship loss and change is perceived by the individual. Methods and Procedures: Participants with a first stroke were recruited from one acute stroke unit in the UK. In-depth qualitative interviews took place between 8 and 15 months post stroke. Outcomes and Results: 29 participants were recruited of whom 10 had aphasia. The main reasons given for losing friends were: loss of shared activities, reduced energy levels, physical disability, aphasia, unhelpful responses of others, environmental barriers, and changing social desires. The subset of participants who experienced the most extensive loss of friends were those who described a sense that they were 'closing in' on themselves leading to a withdrawal from social contact and a new preference for meeting only close friends and family. Those with aphasia experienced the most hurtful negative responses from others and found it more difficult to retain their friends unless they had strong supportive friendship patterns prior to the stroke. The factors which helped to protect friendships included: having a shared history, friends who showed concern, who lived locally, where the friendship was not activity-based, and where the participant had a 'friends-based' social network prior to the stroke. Conclusions and Implications: Given the link between depression and loss of friends post stroke, supporting an individual in maintaining a social network is likely to be beneficial. For intervention to be effective, however, it may need to take into account not only the impact of new physical and language disabilities, but also changing social desires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a collaboration between an academic researcher and four older people who worked together on the evaluation of a pilot project in Gloucestershire, with the aim of 'making care homes part of our community'. Against a background of increasing public participation in research, we explore the role of 'community researcher' and the experiences of those involved. The article starts with an overview of policy and practice developments in relation to public engagement in research. A description is provided of a research project that included recruiting and training 'community researchers' to carry out an evaluation of the Partnerships for Older People Project in Gloucestershire. The next section focuses on the experiences of the older people who carried out this role, including some of the benefits and challenges that were encountered. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for delivering meaningful public engagement in service development and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the navigation rights along inland water resources for recreation and leisure in England and Wales. It states that the provisions in considering petitions from group individuals and representative organizations made by the National Assembly for Wales (NAW) has provided the opportunity for Welsh Canoe Association now called Canoe Wales, to petition for the creation of a right access along inland waters for unpowered craft which is similar to that in Scotland. It offers information on the Canoe Wales petition as well as the recommendation of the Petitions Committee which were accepted by the NAW.

In recent years Vauxhall in south London has been transformed and rebranded as an urban leisure zone for gay men. Disused railway arches and warehouses have been converted into nightclubs and a significant night-time economy has developed rivalling Soho’s existing gay village. However, with its commodified forms of public sex and high levels of recreational drug use, Vauxhall’s club scene looks rather different from the British gay villages of the 1990s. This article examines how the area’s nightlife entrepreneurs have capitalised on the recent liberalisation of licensing laws while drawing on the historical associations with the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (1660—1859) in attempts to market the area as a site of embedded hedonism. Overall, the aesthetic and cultural themes of Vauxhall’s club scene seem to contradict earlier assumptions about the desexualisation and sanitisation of contemporary gay culture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]