New pitches, playground, opened today in Newbridge
Mayor of County Kildare, Cllr John O'Neill, letting children into the playground before he cut the tape.
NEWBRIDGE, 6 July 2002: by Brian Byrne. New all-weather pitches and a free public playground were officially opened this afternoon in Newbridge by the Mayor of County Kildare, Cllr John O'Neill. The opening of the 501,000 euros project was Mayor O'Neill's last public function before the mayorship transfers at Monday's AGM of Kildare County Council.
The playground and the soccer pitches have special safety surfaces and the pitches can be used for a number of different types of activity, including soccer, basketball, and multisports.
"At the moment we have a high concentration of football taking place in the Sports Centre Hall, and we felt that if we had some all-weather pitches it would take the pressure off the use of the hall," Ray Bonar, KCC Leisure Services manager told KNN after the opening. "This would allow us to promote some minority sports and extend the level of services that we have."
Mayor O'Neill said it gave him great pleasure to officially open such a facility in his home town. "There is a great need for this kind of facility, to encourage young people to do more than just watch television," he added.
The playground is a pilot project which will be closely monitored for 12 months, and if it is successful the council will look to see where they can go from there to providing a playground 'in every major town'.
Ray Bonar also aksed parents to stay with their children while they're using the playground, as the staff of the Sports Centre will not have a supervisory role. "They will look after any first aid needs, and will have a health and safety function, but parents should accompany their children and keep and eye on them," he said.
The works at Station Road also include a new car park.
The project was managed by Kildare County Council's Leisure Services, and the playground and all-weather pitches were installed by Sports Surfaces Ireland Ltd to a design by LMK Landscape Consulting.
Kildare County Council is spending more than two million euros on its Leisure Services programme this year, including capital projects such as the Newbridge facilities, grants to sporting and leisure organisations, the operation of two swimming pools, and parks development and maintenance.
