Part 3: Adventure Playground
The first adventure playground planning began in 1979 and was completed in 1983. Before then, school memorabilia mentions jungle gyms and other installed playground equipment typical of the 1960s. Furthermore, adventure playground replacement work and additions occurred over the years, resulting in what is now a classic adventure playground from the 1980s and 1990s. A more contemporary, run-of-the-mill playground was also installed recently and is shown on the left side of the photo below. Extensive adventure playground repair work was undertaken between 2019 and 2022 to maintain the current adventure playground, given its popularity with children.
The adventure playground in May 2024.
School Pool
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A pool committee was formed as soon as the school opened. It was headed by Mr. Noel James, nicknamed ‘The Boss,’ who was the Master of the Builders Association. The school pool was built quickly and officially opened on 25 February 1960 by the Mayor at the time, Mr J Davidson. The pool was also the first filtration pool in Ashburton.
According to various memorabilia and social media comments from those who used the pool as a child, the water was generally freezing, especially if you were first up for a 9am swim.
As with many school pools, maintenance costs escalated, and the infrastructure of the pool began to deteriorate. Sadly, the original school pool was decommissioned in 1993.
The old school pool was located behind the back tennis court. The mound beside the back tennis court is where much of the concrete and ruins were placed and buried, which is now covered in native trees. Despite sifting through many historical records and pictures, the only photo of the outside pool is in the aerial photo taken in 1962, as shown previously.
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