Timaru playground of epic proportions to be celebrated

Friday, 8 December 2023

It’s been a long time in the making, but on Sunday, Timaru’s new state-of-the-art, $3 million CPlay will be celebrated by the community, along with a claim it is now the biggest playground in the Southern Hemisphere.

The idea for the playground was proposed by Owen Jackson in 2016, after he visited Christchurch’s, The Margaret Mahy Family Playground, with his children.

“I bumped into Cheryl Blanchard [a fellow Timaru resident] and said ‘we need to have something like this in Timaru’,’’ Jackson, the project’s chairman, said.

“And then I thought ‘why can’t we?’ I was really naive then and had no idea about playgrounds, and it’s probably just as well to be honest.’’

Fast-forward seven years and Jackson’s original idea of a heritage playground for Caroline Bay, has morphed into a 18,085.27m² development, including the area’s skate park.

It was this size that has also caught the attention of New Zealand playground designers Creo, who managed the surface detailing design and equipment layout of the playground.

Creo team lead Ben Witty said the company also worked on the Margaret Mahy playground in the past reported to be the biggest playground in the Southern Hemisphere.

“We started thinking CPlay might be larger,’’ Witty said.

“One of our team members was at Caroline Bay and noticed the large size of that playground. That got us curious, so we pulled out the measurements from the Margaret Mahy project to compare.’’

After checking both playgrounds’ measurements, he said it had been a surprise to find CPlay was larger than Margaret Mahy, which covers an area of 16,288.86m².

However, the size of the playground was the least important thing, he said.

“With all playgrounds, we aim to maximise the play value and the benefits the space will bring to the community.

“We are pleased to see this community effort become a great playground that will be a place for memories to be made for many years. We are pleased and honoured to be part of this story.'

Jackson agreed, saying while it was another drawcard to bring visitors to the area, they had never planned on building the largest playground.

“It’s just the way it worked out.

“It’s just a by-product of what happened.’’

He said regardless of who lays claim to being the biggest playground, everyone knows how beneficial playgrounds are to their communities.

“CPlay is going to provide hours and hours of free fun and create many lasting memories this summer and for many years to come,’’ he said.

The journey to get to a soft opening on Monday, when the gates around the park officially came down, had been a long one, he said.

The playground build was originally estimated to cost $2.2m, but in June 2022 the committee behind the project announced a 15% increase in costs. By November of last year it had risen to $2.98m.

The project was made possible by a massive community fundraising effort and a contribution from the Timaru District Council.

The council would take ownership and be responsible for maintaining the community-led upgrade once the project was complete.

Jackson said the fact CPlay was ready to be officially handed over to the council on Sunday was a credit to those people who had stuck with the project, as well as the community, who had a right to a sense of ownership of the playground.

“It’s a huge achievement.

“It’s great to be a part of the buzz.’’

The community family fun day will begin at noon on Sunday.