Kingston Park set to reopen soon, despite some minor graffiti

ONE of Ocean Grove’s most well-loved playgrounds, Kingston Park, will reopen early this month after undergoing a $370,000 upgrade.
The City of Greater Geelong has confirmed the park will officially open on Friday September 13.
But work on the park hasn’t exactly gone to plan, with Acting Director of Customer and Corporate Services Shaun Broadbent reporting that some minor graffiti had already occurred on the site after a fence was forced down the weekend before last.
Torquay’s Paul (Chicken) Dyer, who is known for his stint on Big Brother and K rock, was also slammed by locals at the weekend after he posted a video of himself and children playing on the playground.
Comments flooded a shared video of Dyer’s jumping the fence and taking to the slide on an Ocean Grove Facebook page, before he later deleted it.
This came after locals took to social media the weekend before last to report the vandalism and also of seeing people already using the equipment.
One person commented, “Children were playing on it yesterday with the parents. The fence was down, lots of signs saying don’t enter. Wonderful what the parents would have said if a child was hurt”, while another said, “There were a number of young families inside the park, moving the fences even further so their kids could get in to play. They didn’t seem concerned at all. The fences were obviously knocked down, but then they were just something to be walked over and ignored. These places need to be cared for and respected by everyone equally”.
Surrounded by bushland, the new playground design will feature natural elements that incorporate the idea of ‘landscape as playground’.
Pockets of both passive and active play areas will be arranged around a central tower unit which will form the feature piece of the playground.
The design of the playground aims to support a child’s growth and development in playful setting, providing modern and accessible equipment that engages children and encourages imaginative play.