Great news!

About two weeks ago we received an email with fantastic news! The City of Cape Town has allocated Maynard Park a budget of R50,000 (under the ward allocation project)! The council has really been such a great help with our project so far, so this is really the cherry on the top.

We had a meeting with Pauline McConney and Charl Marais (from City Parks) on site on Friday and presented them with a budget.

We requested the following:

• A jungle gym with a slide, swings (suitable for older children), monkey bars and a roof/house
• Rocking horses (see my previous posts) - these are suitable for older children also
• A lapa (similar to the one in De Waal Park)
• Removal of the young palm in the center back of the park
• Benches
• A hose pipe (the irrigation system was installed on Thursday and it will have a hose attachment instead of taps)

A very big thank you to David Curran and also Brett Herron for all the help along the way. It really wouldn't have been possible without you.

10 things to look for in a great playground

I found this the other day while compiling my Pinterest Park board - it's a blog post about the 10 things to look for in a great playground. My favourites are a mound and a slide.

KidBuddie Jungle gyms

KidBuddie Rocking horse

I saw these awesome rocking horses at a park in Knysna on the Thesen Islands, and have finally found the supplier KidBuddie Jungle Gyms. They deliver nationally and have a large catalogue of innovative play equipment.

Wood and tyre bench

I love the simple ideas in the tyre playground book. This one is in progress.

From the book: Entyrely Fun Playgrounds by James A Jolly.

First tyres planted

Tyre steps

Yesterday the first tyres were planted, making some steps for kids to climb on.

The design for this, and future tyre projects, are coming from a fabulous book called Entyrely Fun Playgrounds by James A Jolly. The book is available in the public domain (i.e. it's free and you can print out your own copy), and it features so many plans to create a fabulous and fun park using tyres.

I'll be posting some of my favourite designs over the next few weeks.

Tyre steps can be found on page 28 and 29.

New tree

New tree donated by Gardens Nursery

Thank you to Eltje Daun from Gardens Nursery Scott Street for all her support. We have a beautiful new tree in the back corner.

Gardens Nursery is tucked away on Scott street. Phone number: 021 462 0441

The wall is mostly finished! Whew...

The wall

the rockery

digging grass

Thank you to Ben and everyone who donated money so far to the wall. Over R4000 was spent, building foundations and plastering the wall. 

FairCape donated the labour to build the wall and the it was the council who provided bricks and cement (A big thank you to Dave Curran). Your neighbours worked hard also! The Shul will be responsible for painting.


Today we spent the morning digging up old grass and planting new seeds. 


A Cape Ash tree and a hibiscus bush were planted to the right of the pedestrian gate. 


The wooden box is now being used as a sandpit. It is covered by the tarpaulin to stop cats using it as a large litter box.




If you would like a key, please leave a comment or contact Glenn.


More information will be provided soon about the budget and what will happen next.