'Dilapidated and dangerous' play park needs urgent refurbishment

“It looks like we don’t exist out here.”

These were the powerful words of Dylan (17) which featured in a short video created by the children and young people of Currynierin.

Launched on October 21, the video is part of a renewed campaign to have the area’s “dilapidated and dangerous” 40-year-old play park refurbished and upgraded.

placeholder image — Launched on October 21, the video is part of a renewed campaign to have the area’s “dilapidated and dangerous” 40-year-old play park refurbished and upgraded.

In the innovative video, the young people highlighted the need for swings, shelters, lights, benches, bins, gates, a climbing frame, an area for younger children, and maintenance as part of their proposed ‘new’ play park.

Speaking to Derry News, Partick Maguire, the area youth worker explained that in 2016, the young people of Currynierin were consulted on a new play park, on behalf of Derry City and Strabane District Council.

He added: “However, the plans have long since expired and the promised park remains undelivered.

“The children and young people are forced to use the dilapidated and dangerous play park which sits at the entrance to the community, all the while watching whilst the communities around them have received millions of pounds spending on new parks and facilities, including new play parks and a football pitch in the Drumahoe, Irish Street and Top of the Hill communities.

“Currynierin play park is very run down. All the handles, all the high-touch areas have lots of cracked paint. The wanes can’t sit on the swings because if they do, the rust from the chains makes their clothes dirty.

“There are two swings and a climbing frame with a slide, in the play park. It is for under 10s and it is used a lot because essentially it is all they have. I know there are other play parks nearby but to expect children to walk and cross that busy Derry to Belfast Road to access the park at Drumahoe is just unrealistic. I am a parent myself and I would not dream of letting my children walk that far and certainly not crossing so many roads, given how dense and fast the traffic is around that area,” said Patrick.

According to Patrick, there have been multiple attempts by Currynierin Community Association and others to access funding for the play park, over the years.

He added: “The possibility of obtaining Peace IV funding is currently being investigated. However, for the young people of Currynierin, it is a case of one broken promise after another.

“Back in 2016, the plans drawn up were estimated to cost £300,000 for everything that was required but obviously now in 2022, the cost of everything is through the roof and you could potentially double that amount.”

Patrick said the need for a new play park in Currynierin was clear.

“When I started working with young people here, the park was obviously the first thing I noticed when I came into the community. I am pretty sure it is the first thing anybody notices, when they come into the area.

“How can you ask young people to take pride in their area whenever that is the first thing they see day in and day out, when they leave and when they enter Currynierin?

“I would love my older young people to really be reinvigorated by this process of reimagining the play park and the compilation of the video.

“Initially we had a lot of apathy towards it from the older people who were basically primary sevens and first years back in 2016.

“They were promised a new play park then and they were so badly let down that they completely switched off. It took a long time to build up any sort of trust. Even for me, as an outsider, it took a while for me to build up that trust with them. That should not happen again to another generation of young people,” said Patrick.

According to Patrick, the young people of Currynierin were rightly proud of themselves at the video launch.

“It would be devastating to see that group of young people go the same way as the group before them. One too many broken promises can lead to apathy in young people.”