New life for old playground
$250K GRANT TO HELP REBUILD AGNES DAVIDSON PLAYGROUND
The city’s oldest playground is being replaced with help from a large enhancement grant through the provincial government.
Fundraising efforts to build a new playground at École Agnes Davidson Elementary School received a large boost in the form of a $250,000 Community Facility Enhancement Program grant.
The current playground is an old wooden structure which has had a number of pieces already removed for the sake of safety.
“It’s the oldest playground in the city,” said principal Broc Higginson.
In addition to the pieces which have been removed, he said listing the structure for decommission means it is no longer being fixed when it is damaged.
“It just means that less and less of the structure is available for our kids to play on,” he said. “It’s an old, weathered, wooden structure.”
He noted children sometimes receive slivers from playing on the structure — something that parents might have done themselves as children if they attended the school.
“I can tell you some of the parents who are on parent council, it was here when they went to school here,” he said.
Higginson said it is difficult to imagine a school without a proper playground.
“For us, it’s a necessity,” he said, noting exceptional work has been done by the school’s parent group.
“We just can’t imagine kids going out for recess and not having a playground to play,” he said.
The new design will incorporate a dragon-themed structure, as well as equipment to provide accessibility for all students.
The announcement brings the total funds either raised or committed to about $550,000 — $70,000 of which was fundraised.
Between $50,000 and $60,000 are still needed. Michael Boh, project manager for the playground committee as part of the school’s parent council, said the hope is the funds are in place in order to begin work this summer, so it has a strong chance of being completed by fall.
Work to fund the playground has been ongoing for the past two years.
“The difficult thing about building at the school is you typically have to do it in the summer,” said Boh.
“We have a small window right now.”
CFEP provides financial assistance to community projects to acquire, build, purchase, repair, renovate, upgrade or expand sports, recreational, cultural or other related public-use community facilities.
Anyone interested in donating money toward the playground is invited to call the school directly or to visit their webpage.