by Heather Corrigan
One of the Organizers
WHITEWATER REGION (Cobden) — I never thought putting up a playground could be a difficult venture. I always thought as long as you had money and people anything could be done and it can, but sometimes it takes a lot longer than expected to see something you started be completed.
Fourteen years ago a group of women — Heather Corrigan, Debbie Ready and Patricia Banks — sat at the ball diamond in Cobden watching children play in the bleachers and the parking lot in the dirt, while their brothers, sisters, parents were playing ball.
We started fundraising with the idea of building a playground in the rink, curling club, ag hall area. With the support of the town residents we were able to raise money through cooking breakfasts at the Cobden legion upstairs. Our annual breakfast was the Easter breakfast with Cobden’s own Gerry Afelskie as our Easter bunny. They were very well attended. We also had fundraisers with selling tickets and events at the ag hall.
During the fundraising process we had some generous sponsors, The Candle Wick, The Store Next Door, The Cutting Room, chiropractor Dr. Steven Olsen, Cobden Legion, Cobden Agricultural Society, the Civinettes and the major sponsor, the Cobden and District Civitan Club.
We were lucky enough to raise approximately $3,200 of the money in five years and then the Civitan Club donated $5,000.
During this process I was a member of the agricultural society.
The ag society was a large part of helping with the structure. They helped by letting us have fundraising events at the hall and at the spring dances we sold items. We really thought there would be no issue putting up a play ground in the ag, curling rink area.
Then, things came to a bit of a stand still. I left the ag board after 10 years, as it was time to move on and try something else. I joined the Cobden Recreation Association in 2010 in hopes it would help with the playground and luckily the members were on board.
We hadn’t purchased the playground equipment, yet, but finally in November of 2011 we bought it and received it in December of that year.
Unfortunately, things came to a halt shortly after our idea of the Curling Club letting us put the playground in the grassy area between the Curling Club and Arena area. The Curling Club members did not see our vision and did not want the playground to be put in the empty grassy area, as they were worried about kids vandalizing and drug use in the playground area. We tried as hard as we could to find another spot near the arena so our children and grandchildren would have a place to play, but with the way the buildings are situated nothing else would work. I definitely learned a lot about the complexity of starting and finishing a project.
I learned not everyone will have your vision, you have to make sure you have all your T-s crossed before starting. Fundraising was fun and easy but the location was the critical point, and unfortunately that was the one mistake I made, the location should have been locked down before starting a venture this big. I always thought that would be the easy part but I learned never to assume. I take this as a learning curve and am happy that I now have more knowledge of how planning something like this large is done.
Our next choice was to go to the town council and see if it could put it up somewhere so that it was being utilized. It was a long and hard process. Something I was not prepared for. Finally, after two-and-a-half years working with the township, many meetings and emails, we are excited to say the playground structure is finally up.
I have to thank the Cobden Recreation Association for standing by me and this playground. If it wasn’t for Ted Barron, the front runner who pushed hard and worked non-stop on this project, and the Recreation Committee consisting of Dave Stuart, Art Cobb, Stan Keon, Julie Hennessy, Sandra Dick and myself, the former manager of the rink Jerry McIntyre, this would not have happened. Thank you to the Civitan Club for the large donation and the help getting the structure put up and also for your patience. Also, we would like to thank Hal Johnson, Chris Olmstead, Charlene Jackson from Cobden Council for all their help and support getting this playground up and my friends, Debbie Ready and the late Patricia Banks for starting this adventure with me.
When the three of us started this project, we were quite young and so were our children. Unfortunately they won’t be able to use this structure now, but never the less, I have seen many children using it already and that makes me very happy. The park was not our first choice for the playground but it seems to fit there. As Beverley Cobb mentioned in her Letter to the Editor published in last week’s edition of Whitewater News, not many tax payers use the park. But, now the playground has already changed that. We have seen many local children ages two to five years, use the playground while their parents are enjoying the shade trees and picnic tables. That is fantastic and very positive to see.
After all these years of working on this project, it’s amazing to see such a small expensive playground finally up. We can finally close the chapter on this project and see what’s next. Thank you to everyone one who helped in the process.
Short discussion at council
Councillors Dave Mackay and Cathy Regier were surprised to see how small the playground is.
“It’s so small,” Coun. Mackay said at last night’s council meeting. “I thought it was massive.”
Coun. Regier added, “I thought it was massive too. I was blown away when I saw it was for two to five-year-olds.
“I’m glad it’s finally put to rest.”
Councillor Chris Olmstead said there have been children on it each time he has driven by since it was erected.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin said it was originally designed for children under five years old.
He recalled when children were playing ball, their younger siblings would have someplace to play, other than the parking lot or on the bleachers.
He wishes there was a similar one like it in downtown Foresters Falls. There is one in the ball park, but it’s quite a distance for young children to go by themselves.
Mayor Hal Johnson said when the new recreation manager is hired, that could be one of the things he, or she, could look into.
Coun. Regier thanked Janet Collins, the physical services manager, and the public works crew, for ensuring the structure was ready by Canada Day.
