Revival for Memorial Park’s rink
Skaters on all sorts of wheels can look forward to being able to train and play outdoors next summer, following resurfacing of the rink at Palmerston North’s Memorial Park.
The city council is spending $50,000 on the rehabilitation that will allow kids on skates through to roller derby and artistic skaters and competition players of inline and roller hockey back on the rink.
Contractor Rob Frank, from Frank Construction, said the 40 to 50-year-old concrete blocks and cracks between them were well due for attention, but overall the rink was ‘‘in pretty good nick for its age’’.
So far, the surface has been ground to make it smoother and volunteers from the wheeled sports groups, under the umbrella of the Memorial Park Sports Trust, will be helping fill in some of the pitted holes.
After another sweep with the grinder, the finishing treatment would be with a cure-hard product and then the line markings would go on.
City council leisure assets planner Jason Pilkington said once the rink was completed, the clubs would need to fund raise for a rinkboard barrier to contain the sports on wheels and protect users of the neighbouring paddling pool.
Attention would then move to the run-down tiered seating behind the rink and facilities for hiring skates.
‘‘It will be a public facility like any other sports field. It will be booked for sports, and when they are not using it, the kids can come and have a go.’’
He said the council was open to providing power so users could bring their own music, but sports trust acting chairwoman Sandy Nimmo’s request for permanent lighting was unlikely to be allowed.
Pilkington said the projects would tie in with an overall development plan for the park that was expected to go out for public consultation after June.