Just looking for a new place to play
A rural playcentre with 16 children that must move out of its leaky building is hoping its community will find a paddock to give it for Christmas.
Tikorangi Playcentre, near Waitara in Taranaki, has been located at the back end of Tikorangi School for about 30 years but its premises is rundown and on the verge of being unsafe and non-compliant, centre president Kristie Boyd said.
‘‘We’re looking for a new site around 500 square metres, within the Tikorangi area, right in the heart of the community really.’’
She said they had spent a lot of money getting the buildings surveyed, but were told by the NZ Playcentre Federation that it was more sustainable to relocate rather than fix the current building.
Boyd said they were hoping to lease the land or possibly even purchase it and had some funding behind them to build a new purpose-built centre or relocate a building to the site
‘‘Ideally we would love to stay in the heart of Tikorangi to enable us to stay connected with the school, but we will consider anything.’’
Boyd said it was quite a big thing for to be moving.
‘‘Whoever lives in this area we want to be able to go to a playcentre that’s nearby.’’
She said it was also important the playcentre maintained a link with the school.
‘‘If we’re not there that will be a big gap...A playcentre and a school can create a home for so many people and that’s basically why we keep doing this.’’
Boyd said the centre had 11 active families but many members of the community would have passed through the centre, she said.
‘‘It’s a building that has looked after many, many people in the past so a lot of people have been through there.’’
‘‘The most important thing is that we’re there for the children of our community.’’
The playcentre will hold a community meeting at their current site on December 7 at 7pm to discuss options, Boyd said. ‘‘We want to kind of just stand up and show people who we are and just put all the cards on the table.’’