The Townsend play park has arrived!

After almost three years of uphill struggle, children can now play on the newly installed play park at Townsend Park.

“Thank you to The North Coast Courier for taking up our cause when we had almost given up,” said much relieved Ballito resident Mariè Samuelson.

The playpark was the brainchild of Mariè and Bernard Samuelson who live opposite the park and wanted to create something for all the children who visit the popular public spot.

This includes two jungle gyms, swing and slide, roundabout, balancing beam and monkey bar climbing structure.

“We have two grandchildren aged four and five and when they visit us they have nowhere to play.

“This made us aware of the need and we decided to donate the play park to the town,” said Mariè.

Thanks to a bureaucratic nightmare of red tape the playground equipment valued at R50 000 worth has been gathering dust for the last 34 months.

On September 4, 2014 they met with the KwaDukuza municipality parks and gardens department which allocated them a suitable area (next to the tennis courts).

“They told us to go ahead and we were delighted. So I had the equipment manufactured by Jabula Play in Umhlali,” she said.

The Samuelsons then asked the municipality for a letter confirming they had permission to erect the equipment.

“This was when we received word from KwaDukuza municipality that the land actually did not belong to them but to Public Works and that permission was needed from them first.”

Over the next two years the Samuelson’s did everything in their power to get permission.

“We wrote dozens of emails to the municipality, met with the then Ballito councillor Colin Marsh and even sent a letter to mayor Ricardo Mthembu begging him for help, but we did not even receive a reply.

The North Coast Courier then contacted Public Works directly and immediately received a verbal agreement for the playpark. It took another nine months of consistent badgering to get written permission.

The playpark has now been erected and is still to receive benches from the Ballito UIP and sand (mixed with salt) and a flowerbed from Warren Greenage landscapers.

“Thank you to Jabula Play for sponsoring the monkey bars, Brett Moran Talisman for the machinery used to install the equipment and Water Control for the labour,” said Mariè.

“It is so rewarding to see the children playing at the park every day. All this struggle was so worth it!”

>>  Expect to find the latest trends in Health, Wellness and Beauty in Ballito.

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