Where The Children Play
As I flip through the pages of the Byron
Villager magazine, I’ve been noticing a positive and inspiration trend taking
shape. In almost every issue we are
seeing how our children are playing an intricate role in shaping our
community. There have been stories about
our schools getting involved in Terry Fox runs, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides
planting trees in neighbourhood parks, self-formed youth groups (The Byron
Believers) who raise money to help families dealing with cancer… and then there
was the story about One London Place rappeller, Olivia VanderScheide!!!
As I think about all of these wonderful
adventures and how diligently our children are working, I can’t help but think
that maybe it’s time for all of them to have a small break to enjoy a bit of
play time. Apparently, local resident,
mother and home day care worker Shelah Brook and internationally known,
Canadian icon Jenny Jones feel the same way!
During the summer of 2015, Jenny Jones created
a truly inspirational opportunity for Londoners when she introduced a contest
called ‘Hometown Heroes’. Jones, who
grew up in London,
wanted to give a little something back to the place where her childhood
memories were born. She was generously
offering to fund one community project to the tune of $100 000.00!
Once all of the applications had been
submitted, it was time to decide which project would receive this funding. From Jenny’s website, I was able to learn
that, “more
requests came in for new playgrounds than anything else.” I believe that Brook’s proposal caught Jones’
interest because her playground was requesting many considerations to
accommodate children with physical challenges.
Having
taken care of several children with mobility issues as well as Autism over her
thirty year career, Brook knows, first hand, how difficult it can be for some
children to enjoy simple things like slides and swings.
I
learned a lot more about the many interesting design features of this
playground while speaking with London’s
Parks Project Coordinator, Julie Michaud.
Michaud was very happy to share that the play equipment, “was selected
because it had the most play value for our budget, and also allowed the highest
accessibility. Accessibility is not only for mobility (wheelchair access), but
also considers other special needs such as vision, auditory, vestibular
(movements), sensory, dexterity, mutual and inclusive play.” In the case of children with Autism, the
playground offers, “quiet places, in the case of a child that needs to escape
the stimulation of a busy playground.”
Brook
explained how this project, “started off very nicely,” and how many London city departments
soon got on board. “Then things really
took off! It was thrilling to see how
our initial ideas grew to what they are today.”
Jenny
Jones has doubled her original grant funding and the City of London
has also made significant contributions to this effort so that this entire area
of Springbank Park can be accessible to children as
well as adults. Plans are in place to
build a special parking area along the park’s Flint Lane with accessible picnic tables,
paved pathways leading to and around the playground and many new trees will be
planted along all of these areas to provide more shade during the hottest days
of summer.
It
brings a smile to my face to be able to finally answer a question that was
posed around forty years ago by Cat Stevens.
The next time I hear, “Where Do The Children Play?” I’ll be able to
answer, “At Shelah’s Place in Byron’s own Springbank Gardens!”
The
construction for this project will begin near the end of May and the grand
opening is scheduled for Saturday, June 18 (rain date Saturday, June 25). Mayor Matt Brown, Jenny Jones and Shelah
Brook will be on sight for the official opening and the time for the ribbon
cutting ceremony will soon be listed at london.ca/parks. Look for the ‘current parks projects’ link.
Jim Kogelheide
June 2016
++++++++++++++
This collage was created with photos that
were taken during the official opening!
My son, Devon got to give Jenny Jones a high-5
&
I got an autographed copy of the magazine!
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