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© Ellen Greely
© 2012 Topsfield Playground Committee
Updated: 05/17/2012














Topsfield Playground Committee

The Topsfield Playground Committee (TPC) is organized for the charitable and educational purposes of raising funds to provide fun, safe, accessible, and physically challenging play areas for the community of Topsfield, Massachusetts.

To learn more, click here.
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The New Grove Street Park

Why are new playgrounds so important for Topsfield?
One of the new playgrounds is on the property of the Proctor Elementary School.  This part of our project was completed in October 2009, a full 6 months ahead of schedule!  The previous structure had been closed to students during school hours since September 2008 due to safety concerns.  The second project was to replace the existing “Tot Lot”, adjacent to the school, with a new Community Park - now called the Grove Street Park.  We completed this part of the project fall of 2010.  This portion of the playground also showed similar signs of wear and deterioration.  This downtown park area is the only town playground for the 6,200 residents of Topsfield.  If we want to succeed in raising children who are physically active, enjoying time playing outdoors is an important aspect of that.  Stay tuned for more details on our next project at the Steward Elementary School.   To learn more, click here.

Support Our Vendors

Our projects will not succeed without the support of our vendors.  Please give them your support in return for what they are doing for our community!

 

Sponsors Donating Goods & Services

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John Cowhig, Jen LaRussa, Emily & Tim Collins at Ribbon Cutting Ceremony 10.29.09

THANK YOU!
The Topsfield Playground Committee wishes to thank all of our sponsors and the many volunteers who helped with the installation at Proctor School on Sunday October 25th, 2009 and of the Community Park on Saturday October 23rd, 2010.  It was truly a community effort with participation by many volunteers including Proctor principal Sarah O’Leary, Superintendent Bernie Creeden, Selectman Dick Gandt, and Hands for Hire owner John Cowhig.  Check out photos on the Proctor page or click here to view the entire Community Build and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Proctor.  Pics of the Grove Street park build are available here.
For updates, please join our mailing list by signing up below!
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Opening day at the new Grove Street Park, October 26th, 2010.
The SuperNova is a big hit!
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Grove Street Park

 

The new Grove Street Park opened October 26, 2010.  TPC wishes to again express our deepest gratitude to John Cowhig (Hands for Hire owner) for all his help. Without him, this would not have been possible.  We also wish to thank the Topsfield Fire Department for cleaning up the new play structures so they would be shiny clean and ready for the kids! (pic below)

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Darryl Moore and John Wood of the Topsfield Fire Department, along with John Cowhig and his sons Dan and Patrick, hose down the new play structures.

What’s New?

The Topsfield Playground Committee (TPC) is raising funds to replace and relocate the Steward playground.  Our initial plan was to do this “at some point down the road”, however, during the 2011-2012 school year we have become aware of the following issues which have increased the urgency of the project:

v Several children were stung by bees on the playground the first day of school this year.

v Bee infestation is a constant battle due to the wood structures, plastic roofs, and holes in the metal structures.

v The playground is often closed during the school year, sometimes for weeks at a time, due to the run-down equipment, bee infestation, and mud.

v Several elements of the playground are permanently closed including two of the eight swings due to excessive rusting and the zip-line due to its fall hazard.

v Three of the five structures have areas that are either permanently closed due to aging and/or safety concerns or are temporarily closed yearly due to bees.

v All of the aged wood structures have problems with protruding nails.

v The old equipment, small fall zones, and lack of adequate safety surfacing are not in compliance with current safety codes.

Going forth, TPC will be finalizing the new playground design and working hard to meet our goal of $120k by end of June, when we will have to place our equipment order.  If we fall short of the total, we will still plan a Fall 2012 Phase I install of swings and/or some part of the main play structure.  We will work closely with the school and our equipment vendor to determine how best to split the project.  We are, however, hopeful we will be able to install the whole structure, so please keep those donations coming!

 

 

 

 

Steward 2012 Walk-A-Thon

The Topsfield Playground Committee held a successful walk-a-thon on Wednesday, April 25th on the Steward School playground.  The children raised over $30,000 towards their new playground.  The winners of the extra recess “tickets” were Mrs. Truhart’s First Grade class (for the most money raised) and Mrs. Austin’s 2nd Grade class (for the highest level of student participation @ 89%).  The Playground Committee also donated an assortment of balls, sidewalk chalk boxes, hula hoops, baseball bases and jump ropes to be used by students at recess time.

 

 

Proctor 2012 Walk-A-Thon
The Topsfield Playground Committee is holding a walk-a-thon on Tuesday May 22nd on the Proctor playground. (Rain date to be Thursday May 31st)

Come and cheer your child on!
11:15-11:35pm – 6th grade
11:45-12:05pm – 5th grade
12:30-12:50pm – 4th grade

We will need help that day stamping lap cards, passing out water, and cheering the kids on.  Please contact us at topsfieldplayground@gmail.com to sign-up to help!
Need an extra copy of the pledge form, click here.     wp577a19cb.png PDF
Steward Project

Below is a draft rendering of the new Steward Playground.  Click here to see a detailed presentation on the project.
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The Steward Project has raised $85,000.  Our goal is to raise the full $120,000 by end of June 2012 for a Fall 2012 installation.  Please help us meet our goal!

 

Click here to donate now by check, PayPal, or American Express Membership Rewards® Points!

 

We also need “in-kind” donations to help with the excavation and site prep.  See below for more details or email topsfieldplayground@gmail.com.

 

Hey neighbor, got a tractor I can borrow?

 As we plan for a Fall 2012 install, whether it is the complete play structure or a Phase I install, we are looking for “in-kind” donations of the following equipment/services to prepare the site:

 

v Demolition of old equipment, including concrete footings, metal and wooden structures, and existing timber play area borders;

v Bobcat/Grading of old equipment areas to leave smooth & ready for planting grass;

v Bobcat/Grading for new play areas;

v Post hole auger for new equipment footings;

v Landscape Timber construction for new play area borders.

 

Please contact Glen Gollrad at topsfieldplayground@gmail.com if you can help out!

 

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