New playground hit with kids
The rain rolled in but the keenest kids kept playing.
Adults huddled under marquees and by the toilet block at Hamilton’s Hare Puke Destination Playground yesterday afternoon.
The children weren’t so easily put off trying out the $1 million Flagstaff playground.
They clambered up cargo nets, bounced on a mini trampoline in gumboots and raincoats, and shifted sand with a digger-like contraption.
Caitlyn Phillips, 9, was waiting for a free spot on the spinner. She’d already clambered up the giant green climbing net, which is modelled on a hı¯naki or eel trap, and slid down the other side.
Another new feature for a Hamilton playground was a social swing: a hexagonal structure which lets six people safely swing in towards each other.
Hamilton’s destination playgrounds programme looked to be at risk mid-2017, when the city council considered favouring smaller playgrounds, but there was a community push to keep them coming.
The Hare Puke playground had a $1m budget, council said, including $245,000 contributed by external funders the Vibrant Hamilton Trust and WEL Energy Trust. Support from local firm Fluhler Contracting Ltd also helped maximise what could be provided.
At the playground opening, kids were urged to give the late Hare Puke a ‘‘Kia ora, Koro Hare’’ when they visited.
‘‘When you play on that playground, you know Koro Hare, in spirit, is keeping an eye on you,’’ Hare Puke’s son Wiremu said.
Hare had a vice-grip handshake, was a Ma¯ ori All Black in the mid 1940s, and was the first kauma¯tua for Hamilton City Council, Wiremu said.
And he had two favourite games as a child: rugby and bullrush.
Councillor Rob Pascoe formally opened the park, and recognised Katy King for her ‘‘persistent efforts’’ to get a playground in the area.
Opening celebrations also included face painting, kite making, a sausage sizzle, street performers, and live music.
The playground and its tuna (eel) and hı¯naki (eel trap) theme have been designed to fit in with the new Te Ao Ma¯ rama School, which is under construction beside the park.
Te Ao Ma¯rama will open in 2019.
‘‘When you play on that playground, you know Koro Hare, in spirit, is keeping an eye on you.’’ Wiremu Puke