NEW PARK SPONSOR

James Craib Park on Mauch Road has, for years, been maintained by a community initiative, and now SuperSpar Hilton Quarry has stepped in to continue maintaining it for locals.

For more than 12 years, the park has been looked after by a group of residents who arranged with uMngeni Municipality to take over its maintenance after it became neglected under the municipality’s watch. However, many of these residents have since moved and the number of volunteers looking after it has dwindled.

With the park’s future becoming a concern, the Downs family, owners of SuperSpar Hilton Quarry, have offered to cover the costs of grass-cutting and weeding.

Greg Downs said getting involved in the upkeep of the park has long been a project with which he wanted to get involved, and so he grabbed the opportunity when former resident Mike Nicholson, who had been financing its maintenance, moved from the area.

“The park is a huge community feature, and well utilised on weekends by residents and young people who use it for sports. We want to ensure it is preserved for the community,” Downs said.

They have plans to make it a special community spot, he added, and have also introduced sanitiser buckets and doggy binbags around the area.

Mauch Road resident Henry Davies, who has been involved in maintaining the park over the years, has expressed his gratitude to the Downs family.

“The park has become an attractive and much-used asset. Such is its value in the time of Covid-19 that people, both young and old, come from some distance away to enjoy exercise in the fresh air here.

“Hilton owes the Downs family and SuperSpar Hilton Quarry an enormous vote of thanks for their sponsorship. Those who have so kindly given financial support for the park’s upkeep are encouraged to continue this, if possible, but to now channel contributions via the Street Hawks programme of which the park shall continue to remain a component,” Davies said.