Nostalgia has the strange ability to knock the harsher edges off our memories so we can end up yearning for a past that never really was.

And we must bear this in mind when drawing comparisons between the present and what has gone before – our rose-tinted yesteryears will have had their problems too.

But even when we apply this test, some things were really better in days gone by.

One such example is the amount of freedom youngsters used to enjoy in the past compared to today.

Most people know that playing out, as it used to be called, is a good thing for children, yet it is unrealistic to think parents will suddenly turn back the clock and let their offspring wander where they like so long as they are ‘back by tea’.

We perceive today’s world as too dangerous to let them behave in that way, regardless of the true risks.

But if safe play areas can be provided to let children run about, explore, climb and, yes, even fall over and hurt themselves as we once did, then parents and youngsters will surely embrace them.

That is just what the Council aims to do, with the help of £1.1 million of Government funding, on 22 sites around the district, with one officially opening tomorrow.

We hope they are well looked after and well policed, for then they will be well used and there will be a lot of healthier, happier children as a result.

And to prove that everything wasn’t better way back then, today’s zip wires and big swings sound more fun than the humble teapot lid of old.