Thousands of children and their families, including those now using the new Lois E. Jackson Kinsmen Centre For Children next door, will be playing their way through summers at no cost for many years to come thanks to the opening of the Ladner Rotary Splash Park earlier this month.
Over five years in development, the new splash park in Memorial Park, which replaces an older version sponsored by Kinsmen, features a child-friendly, no-slip rubberized surface, a water conserving system using timed controls and all new water play equipment.
The theme of the play area honours the local farming community with farm related play features and 10 storyboards around the park.
The Rotary Club of Ladner, which initiated the project, and the City of Delta, which became a partner, developed the Ladner Rotary Splash Park with the support of many sponsors and individuals. This splash park is the biggest project undertaken by Delta’s original Rotary club, which has served the community for 61 years through Rotary's network of 1.3 million members in 35,000 clubs worldwide.
Rotary Club of Ladner raised its share of almost $300,000 for the project from the club, itself, through annual calendar lottery sales and individual members, from Rotary District 5040 (51 clubs from Greater Vancouver up the coast to Prince Rupert) and The Rotary Foundation, and many other sponsors, such as Westshore Terminals and, representing the farming community, Delta Agricultural Society and six greenhouse producers.
Delta Mayor Lois Jackson says three years ago Delta council formally agreed to a partnership with Ladner Rotary, once the club had built significant support of sponsors.
“Built in 1990, the old water park was sadly outdated,” says Jackson. “Constructed of concrete as its base [slippery and tough on children when falling], it was using our precious water supply quite inefficiently. Now the new splash park presents you with very efficient features: a rubberized surface, the area is fully accessible [no fence] and the footprint is much larger than the original splash park.”
Ladner Rotary Club president Kerry-Lynne Findlay says: “Rotary Club of Ladner has been devoted to serving the Ladner community and Delta for 61 years. We promote youth leadership and connect young leaders through education and humanitarian service. We provide the platform for successful women and men of all ethnicities, faiths and cultures to make the world a better place through volunteer service.”
Irene Forcier, chair of the Ladner Rotary Splash Park committee, says one of the project’s goals, aside from giving the community a needed play area for children and families, was honouring the local farming community.
“Farmers over the years have made this community a place to visit to see our beautiful fields, to taste our wonderful vegetables and fruits,” says Forcier. “We’re very, very proud of them. We couldn’t really be the community that we are without our farming community.”
