A modest neighbourhood playground built by the Ladysmith Kinsmen Club and community volunteers has received top marks from Kin Canada.
Completed in summer 2012 the wooden play structure at Delcourt Avenue and Colonia Drive earned the local Kinsmen Club Kin Canada’s distinctive Hal and Elspeth Rogers National Service Award for 2012-13.
“It’s actually the top service award for Kinsmen and Kinette clubs across the country,” explained longtime Kinsmen member Duck Paterson, “so it’s classed as the award to achieve if you’ve completed any projects. It’s named for the founders of the association of Kinsmen clubs.”
Close to 100 service projects were taken into consideration Canada-wide, Paterson said, with 13 finalists advancing to Kin Canada’s national “Kinvention,” where the Kinsmen Park playground rose to the top to become this year’s exclusive recipient of Kin Canada’s top service award.
Construction of the Brown Drive Park playground evolved into a collaborative project involving volunteers from the Town of Ladysmith, the Oceanview Community Church and several contractors based in the community, Paterson said.
“Besides rebuilding a great children’s adventure playground, another goal the Kinsmen had was to have a community project, one that got as many people, businesses and organizations involved,” Paterson added. “We believe we accomplished that.”
To view a list of Kin Canada’s national service awards for 2012-13, visit kincanada.ca/award-winners.