A great adventure unfolds for Labasheeda

IT will be all fun and games in Labasheeda on Sunday at 1pm as the new adventure playground is officially opened.

The playground itself has 12 different pieces of play equipment, with the highlight being the 30m zip wire. The multi-use games area has an AstroTurf surface and can accommodate football, hurling, soccer, basketball and hockey. With the addition of floodlighting, it is sure to be a year-round facility.

The official opening will be carried out by local school girl, Rebecca Ryan, who won a competition last year to design the crest for the playground.

After the official opening, there will be a family fun day and duck races at the facility. There will be onsite catering services on Sunday afternoon to cater for people who attend the unveiling.

“The development of the playground has cost over €140,000 and Clare Local Development Co Ltd have provided Leader grant funding of 75%. The remainder of the development cost has to be raised locally and through great support from the local community, the majority of the fundraising is nearly complete, with only €7,650 left to be collected,” committee chairman David Neylon explained.

“All of the local organisations have really rowed in behind the development and it is a credit to the entire community that this facility will open just 18 months after the first meeting of the playground committee,” he said.

“Credit must also go to the committee and the wider fundraising group, who have helped co-ordinate the entire project and the completion of the playground is the culmination of 18 months of hard work, so everyone is looking forward to a well-deserved break,” David added.

Several fundraising events have been held in recent times in an effort to raise the required finance.

The playground and multi-use games area has been constructed by Crawford Group, Wexford, with local contractors O’Connell Cleary Construction and Matt Flanagan Electrical carrying out the ground works and electrical works. It is located in the Shannon Gaels GAA Club car park in Labasheeda.

The playground in Labasheeda is one of many community playgrounds constructed in West Clare in recent times. Playgrounds have been opened in Kilbaha, Kilkee, Cooraclare, Kildysart and Lissycasey, among others, in recent years.

At several Kilrush Town Council meetings, members have referred to their desire to upgrade the children’s playground in Cappa or indeed the possibility of developing a new playground closer to the town.