The Friends of W.G. Murdoch (WGM) Fundraising Society and W.G. Murdoch School’s parent council in Crossfield are seeking last-minute volunteers to help them assemble the community’s long-awaited accessible playground this week.
The volunteers were needed Wednesday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. to put the playground together. A link – WG Murdoch School: WGM Playground Installation (signupgenius.com) – provided on the Facebook page for Friends of W.G. Murdoch said it was looking for volunteers to sign up online for three different shifts throughout the three-day installation process.
WGM parent council member Jeff Wasylucha hopes many from the community will come out and get into the collective “barn-raising” spirit of the occasion.
“When (Principal) Derek Keenan said we would have to assemble it, I pictured right away ‘The Waltons,’” joked Wasylucha. “Everyone coming together for the day and putting up the main frames. It’s awesome. It is going to be one of the new, high-tech playgrounds using modern technologies. It should last forever, and it is going to be very big.”
W.G. Murdoch School finally secured full funding for the project earlier this summer after years of fundraising undertaken by both the school and the Friends of W.G. Murdoch Fundraising Society.
“Crossfield doesn't have any accessible or mature play structures,” Friends of W.G. Murdoch chairperson Tracey Oldale told the Rocky View Weekly back in June.
“The only playgrounds they have are the one at the elementary school and the tot park, so I see a huge opportunity for the older kids anywhere (from) the elementary kids, preschool kids, middle age school kids, and likely even some high-school kids.
Oldale confirmed it had taken five years to secure all the funding needed for the project, most of which was provided by local donors and sponsors in the Crossfield area. Rocky View County had also provided $15,000 in funding for the project.
The playground is specifically designed with strategically-placed colours to help users who have visual challenges and different heights for those with mobility challenges. Oldale confirmed to the Rocky View Weekly the design company captured all visual-, physically- and developmentally-accessibility points in the new playground.
–With files from Mascha Scheele/Rocky View Weekly
