For the latest edition of Love Laois, we headed to Borris-in-Ossory, who last week unveiled their wonderful new playground and multi-use games facility.
The playground has been in the pipeline for a generation but has finally arrived for the summer of 2023.
The €275,000 project was funded by Laois LEADER; Laois County Council; a sports capital grant; and local fundraising in the community.
Chairman of the Borris-in-Ossory Playground Sub-Committee, Cllr Conor Bergin, kindly spoke with LaoisToday about the project.
“It is the culmination of many years of effort,” the Fine Gael Cllr said.
“There has been a need for a playground here for 20 years and there have been a couple of different committees set up to to try get one.
“The issue was, we never had a site and we could never find a proper site for it. The village is quite a long street and there is no square in the middle so we had no natural site.
“It was only in 2018, local landowner, Nicholas Bergin purchased the old convent and he kindly made available a site to the community.”
A long-term lease has been agreed with Mr Bergin.
The Playground Sub-Committee was led by a committee of local volunteers under the umbrella of Borris-in-Ossory Community Development.
Cllr Bergin paid tribute to the efforts of everyone involved.
“We had a lot of volunteers, fundraising and meetings. There was a real need for the playground and a lot of young parents got on board on the committee,” he said.
“We had a fundraising drive last year and we raised €30,000 in the community. The rest came from Laois LEADER, Laois County Council, and a sports capital grant.
“We worked with Sole Leisure, the contractor, and began the project in Autumn of 2022. There was some drainage works which needed to be carried out on site but we weren’t too delayed.
“All the equipment is brand new, fully accessible and meets all modern standards and requirements.
“The multi-use games area is proper, full-sized astro turf and here is huge interest in that from local sports clubs
“Borris-in-Ossory Community Development and Tidy Towns was really the driving force behind it, and the sub-committee played a major roll.
“We were lucky that Annmarie Maher in Laois County Council and Jenny Collier in Laois Partnerships were very helpful to us,” Cllr Bergin said.
The playground is ideally located adjacent to the convent, with plenty of parking at the church car park.
The playground is a fantastic addition to Borris-in-Ossory as well as the wider community at large.
It offers another great opportunity for parents in Laois to bring their children for a few hours out in the fresh air while schools are closed.
SEE ALSO – 132 Laois Community Groups awarded substantial Government funding
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