Published: Thursday, 4th February, 2010 11:12am

Angry mums hit out at unsafe play area

by Fiona Howard

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AN army of angry mums descended on Hermitage Park this week in protest about the state of the children's play area.

The protest, joined by mums and their children from all over the town centred on the dilapidated and possibly dangerous state of some of the play equipment in the playpark.

It was organised by mum of two Katie Freer who said: "Is nobody else appalled about the state of the children's play area in Hermitage Park?

"Over the last couple of years it has become increasingly unsafe and unsavoury, but having visited it with my two children this week I think that we can finally say that it has died.

"This is the state of the park as it stands, or should I say, falls. There are: two sets of swing bars (without swings), a rocking horse which has lost it's leg rest, a witch's hat that barely turns, a dangling chain and weight which presumably used to do something of interest and a few rusty, damaged and completely uninspiring climbing frames.

"The only excitement this park seemingly affords is as a place for bored youths to dig large holes up in the safety turf at night and throw it around, along with their empty bottles."

She continued: "When we get bored of playing in this debris, my son leads me into the main park where we can totter over the bridges with broken safety fences, pointing at the traffic cones below and stopping to scrabble in the broken glass.

"Never mind, I guess we'll just have to get our kicks elsewhere and wait until the amusement park on the pier comes to life again in all it's horrendous, decaying, death-defying splendour!"

But she added: "Can something please not be done about the play park? There is an absolutely fantastic new one in Balloch Park, but that is a long car journey and walk away."

The park also boasts a slide with a jagged piece of metal sticking out at the top which tears clothes and flesh and has even been known to leave children caught and unable to move.

Kelly Dunn who visits the park with her children said: "There are a few swings for toddlers but nothing for slightly bigger children and in the five years I have been coming here it has really gone downhill."

Another mum, Anna Riding said: "When there is a government priority to get children outside and active it is very sad that the park has been allowed to get into this state."

Vicky Fletcher of Fun First, the charity that organises play events for around 230 children in the town agreed that it was sad that the park had got into such a state and said that the play parks would be needed even more in future if the proposed stringent cuts in council support for outside organisations is agreed.

She said that Fun First is likely to lose is council support and at the moment only has funding to continue until the summer although work is going ahead to try to find support from other sources to allow the scheme to continue.

Liz Grant said: "I have lived in Helensburgh all my life and my mum used to bring me to this park to play and she would be disgusted to see the state it is in now."