History of the Playground at Ginn Field
HISTORY OF THE PLAYGROUND AT GINN FIELD
The playground at Ginn Field was built in 1988 by volunteers in the community. By the mid-1990s the playground was in total disrepair. The town cut off the swings because of safety concerns, and nails were visibly sticking out of the wood. A group of parents joined forces in 1995, with help from the Winchester Friends of Recreation, to renovate the playground. The group conducted research and learned that if some basic repairs were made and a preservative sealant was applied to the wood, the playground would be safe for about 10 years. The group raised money via fundraising efforts and also received financial help from the Winchester Savings Bank to get the job done.
Fourteen years have passed and once again the playground is in total disrepair. The swings have been removed, several parts of the play structure are condemned and the wooden play structure regularly gives children splinters. In May 2008, a dedicated group of volunteers led by the Winchester Neighbors Club, a local non-profit, came together to spearhead the project to fix our beloved playground.
We got involved in this initiative because of our shared love for spending time at our local playground with our children. We have worked with the town of Winchester for the past 15 months and received approval on August 10th to move forward with fundraising. We have chosen O’Brien and Sons, which represents Landscape Structures play equipment, to build the playground and have contracted with Andrew Leonard, a local landscape architect, to help with the design. We are currently in the process of getting surveys so we can move forward with the design phase. We have received some conceptual drawings from O’Brien and Sons but they are just to give us an idea of what is possible giving our wish list.
Once we have raised enough funds, a playground can be built in approximately 8 weeks. The current estimated cost to create a new playground is $300,000. As we go through the final design phase we will continue to look for ways to reduce the cost of the overall project while retaining the integrity of the initial plan. Our goal is to have a completed playground in place by the Fall of 2010.
Unfortunately, if the necessary funds are not raised, the playground will be shut down and there will no longer be an in town playground. You can be part of the solution to fix the playground at Ginn Field by offering your financial support. The donation page outlines the ways you can contribute to this initiative. We can BeGINN Again!
