Great progress on community playground in Waterford

The ongoing work on a community playground in County Waterford has been described as "huge" by some of those involved.

A lot of work took place over the last couple of weeks at the the Panda Playground project at Ballymacarbry Community Centre with great progress being made on the overall construction of the project.

A real community effort, the playground equipment is now in place and it's expected the soft surface floor of the amenity will be laid out in the coming week.

Following that, work will take place on finishing touches ahead of safety inspections. However, it's the work of the team of local volunteers from within the community that has made progress on the project possible as local people worked on things like perimeter fencing, footpaths, powerwashing and general groundworks over the last number of weeks. 

As one local commented: "We will be eternally grateful to these generous people who have done a remarkable job. In the next week or so we plan a general clean up of the community centre grounds ahead of opening the playground."

It's expected that locals will also be involved in that clean-up project at the centre.

There was also a surprise in store for the community because one aspect of the playground, a central climbing net that will form a centre-piece of the amenity, was unveiled.

"This impressive feature has already generated huge interest from onlookers and promises to be a star attraction when we open the gates in the coming weeks," said one of those involved with the project.

The project received massive support locally, especially through fundraising initiatives, however, those behind the project are still hoping to add to the fundraising in the hope of acquiring the €170,000 required. Anyone in a position to donate to the project can still do so by contacting the community centre at 086 032 8467 and donation details are also contained on the centre's social media channels.