COUNCILLOR of the Springfield Division Lorraine Dobson says the renovation of the beach park playground in Port Royal is a gift of appreciation from the Canadian Armed Forces with hopes that this will be a start for more development in the coastal community.

The three-week reconstruction programme by members of the Canadian Armed Forces featured the repair of the swing and see-saw, the installation of lights, benches and paving stones alongside the development of a small football area for children residing in the community to gather and play. The renovated park was handed over to the residents on Wednesday.

Dobson, while expressing gratitude for the Canadian Armed Forces’ contribution to the development of Port Royal, said the initiative is part of the collaborative efforts of residents of Port Royal and the armed forces.

“The children use it the most and after consultations with the Canadians they asked me what I would like to see happen. Living here and knowing the use of it I was able to tell them what it needed, like the seating [and] lights because in the nights if you going to have anything here you will have to bring lights.

“When they started they said to me maybe they wouldn’t be able to do everything within the short space of time that they had left, but surprisingly, they were able to everything,” she said.

She said there is more work to be done on improving the playground, but expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far.

“It is not fully completed because the vision for the team is much more than what you see here, but it has improved on what they came and saw. This park has a lot of use: it can be used in various ways; sometimes, when we have to host family gatherings after funerals because there is not much space in the town for large gatherings,” Dobson said.

Commanding officer of the Operational Support Hub Lieutenant Colonol Kevin Doubrough told the Jamaica Observer: “What we wanted to do while we were here was to demonstrate our appreciation for the relationship that we have, not just for Jamaica but also specifically with the community that we are embedded with as we stay here in Port Royal. We met with some members of the community and met with the leadership of the community and tried to find a space or an idea that we can demonstrate our appreciation to,” he explained.

One resident, who gave his name as “Vandel”, told the Observer that while he was happy to see improvements on the playground he had a few concerns about some of the issues he believes are being neglected.

“The dust here is dangerous; it is not good for them [the children], and we need more water here. If we have more access to water then we can use it to water the area so more grass can grow on the playground.

Vandel, however, credited members of the Canadian Armed Forces for investing their time in redeveloping the playground, and urged residents and community leaders to make the effort to maintain and improve on what has been done.

“The Canadians them come and give we a head start so they not here to maintain the park, so this is just a heads-up for us,” he said.