A once neglected and underutilised park is now blossoming and bursting with life.
On 7 May, the New Killarney Riviera Association unveiled the new playground at Killarney Park.
According to Edna Peres who serves the urban regeneration portfolio for the association, the playground was a wish for many residents. She highlighted that the association hosted an event in December where they asked residents to put down their one wish and a safe playground for children was a wish for most residents.
With the approval from City Parks, the project of installing a suitable playground took off. Community members made contributions to have a jungle gym installed at the park.
Addressing those in attendance, chairman of the association Wayne Ford emphasised the need for community involvement in ensuring that their suburb was a better place to live in. He added that if community members worked together, a lot could be achieved with their latest project being evidence to that.
Ford also thanked and praised residents for their support in ensuring that the project was a success. “All it takes is to have dedicated people to make sure that things do happen.”
Ford added that the playground project turned out to be bigger than what they had anticipated but the additional help of surrounding businesses made it possible for them to accomplish their wish.
To officiate the opening of this playground, an official from City Parks, Louise Gordon was in attendance and Shakira Choonara was there representing the ward councillor for the area, Mia Snyman.
The Killarney Youth Group was also recognised for their contribution to ensuring that the playground wish became a reality. As there are rules to every house, members of the youth group laid a few ground rules to ensure peaceful and safe use of the playground. One of the awesome rules they have is that all games that are played at this ground should include other children.
