Collingwood community celebrates Playcentre’s extension to building
A year of fundraising has finally paid off for the families of Collingwood Playcentre. Last Sunday saw the official opening of their building extension.
The opening ceremony was attended by a crowd of over 60 people, including past and present playcentre families and staff, representatives from the Nelson Playcentre Association and local tradespeople who had been involved in the project.
The interior of the building has been completely modernised. The extension contains a kitchen, children’s bathroom including a shower, and a disabled access toilet for adults. The size of the main play area has been doubled and there is now a separate office and children’s sleeping area. The building has been completely redecorated and there is new flooring throughout.
Collingwood Playcentre president Sarah Milligan explained that many of the changes to the bathroom, kitchen and sleeping facilities were made necessary by recent changes in government regulations for early childhood education facilities.
“The parents committee decided that if we were going to embark on such a big project we might as well increase our indoor play area as well. The wet weather on Sunday demonstrated how valuable this new space is. All our guests were able to come into the centre and wander around, and there was still room for children to play.”
Visitors who had not seen the building work said they were amazed by the transformation and loved the new colour scheme. “With the exception of the green and orange window and door frames, we chose off-white floors and walls to give a sense of cleanliness and space. This will also allow us to show off the children’s colourful artwork to maximum effect,” said Mrs Milligan.
During the opening ceremony, tribute was paid to the large number of people involved in the project. Fundraising events included a garden trail, an internet art auction, catering at local events, a house and heritage trail, and a range of stalls and raffles. These were organised not only by playcentre families but also by local community groups, many of which contain former playcentre parents and children. In addition, generous grants were obtained from the Colin Baas Trust, Pub Charities, the Playcentre Federation of New Zealand and Rural Communities Trust.
Mrs Milligan said that once the majority of the funding had been secured, the actual building work was relatively straightforward. “Before we started I was somewhat nervous about taking on such a big project, but with the help of AC Builders we ended up with just what we wanted, when we wanted it and all within budget. The whole thing couldn’t have been any easier.”
Families are now looking forward to putting the new playcentre to full use. Sessions currently run on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and new families are always welcome.
