Members of the CPlay committee and TDC Council met to discuss and workshop the playground upgrade design brief in 2020. Photograph curtosey Roselyn Fauth

In 2019 volunteers came together to start the rejuvenation of the playground. This project is an exciting opportunity to help our community connect through play. A strong guiding principal of the design brief is to make sure it is a space that everyone of all abilities can use. It also offers a unique way to share Timaru's story and to celebrate our environment, heritage, arts and culture.

Why a new playground? Caroline Bay is the most popular outdoor events and recreation area in South Canterbury but its current playground is simply not meeting community needs in our quickly ever changing world.  The plastic bridge, tower, slide centrepiece in the playground were introduced in 1985 and other equipment has been added on an ad hoc basis since. These are now starting to deteriorate and need replacing.

In 2017, after numerous visits to Margaret Mahy playground in Christchurch, Owen Jackson "OJ" investigated the opportunity to develop an inclusive all ages playspace that celebrated the heritage of the area and would become a destination attraction for local and domestic tourism. 

By 2019, the Playground Upgrade Project had been set up , committee members recruited and a strategic plan put in place to investigate what needed to be done in order to create and deliver a $1.5-$2 million playground where the community could come to learn, play, relax and connect.

Operating under the umbrella of the Aoraki Foundation for fundraising purposes, CPlay has a close relationship with the Timaru District Council and has liaised with them at every level of the project, including discussion and action around improving the drainage in the playground area and funding support to get the project officially underway.

CPlay has engaged in a thorough consultation process with the public and a range of community, education, public facilities, charities, disability services and cultural groups. We have found widespread support to develop a playground that incorporates the rich heritage of our region and its people.

After a rigorous submission process, we engaged the services of Playground Centre New Zealand to present plans for us. These have been based on a design brief given to them by CPlay in collaboration with local John Rushton Architects.

These initial designs will be available to be viewed at the official fundraising launch over 2 days, March 7th at Children's Day at Caroline Bay for the public and on March 8th at Movie Max Digital for invited guests.

The new playground has clear and far reaching positive outcomes for the Timaru District and it is expected the fundraising drive will receive strong community and business support.

Public Art Gallery, Aigantighe Art Gallery, handed out free art packs to inspire the community to use their mdf wooden tiles to celebrate and remember the playground.
600 Aigantighe Tiles were created by local families. CPlay now needs to reproduced onto signage material and instal on the inside walls of the 3rd and 4th floors of the lighthouse slide tower.
People will be able to see their creations. Preserve and invoke childhood memories. We can mitigate graffiti inside the lighthouse.