Cambridge Primary School has developed a new playground on previously waste land adjoining Lola Silcock Park.
The land is Education Department land, not Council land, so the Tree Tust's work on Lola Silcock Park had to stop there. However the Principal, Mike Pettit, wanted to extend both the Park and his playing area, so when the Waikato River Clean-up Trust provided some money, he went ahead. Like the Park, the school ground is on the riverbank.
Contractors cleared the land, levelled it and sowed grass. The Tree Trust provided 2 truckloads of plants, and 75 pupils and their teachers got busy. This video shows them hard at work.
Included are Mike Pettit, Don Willoughby, Chairman of the Tree Trust, Leslie Wood, Secretary, and Joan McCathie, Funding Manager.
Later, the school added a stage, and there are plans for lighting and a sound system so that concerts and other functions can be held there. The opening ceremony attracted about 300 people and proved that the venue could support a worthwhile audience.
