Gisborne Hospital’s youngest visitors can now enjoy a brand new playground thanks to the generosity of the Tairāwhiti community and the dedication of staff.

An event was held today at Whetu Ao Rawhiti Planet Sunshine children’s ward to acknowledge the people, trusts and organisations that have contributed to the upgrade.

Registered nurse and paediatric quality and education coordinator Sue Cranston has led the upgrade, with the support of Molly Para and others.

Ms Cranston described it as a very long, hard road that has taken many years, presenting many stumbling blocks along the way.

“I’m almost overwhelmed that we’ve finally made it. There are so many people to thank who have helped us make it to the end in big and small ways,” she said.

“Twelve years ago, an enthusiastic and committed group of people including cultural and consumer leadership set off on to this journey.

“Little eyes light up when seeing the playground and the children are often busting to get out here and play. It has been worth every ounce of effort.”

Ms Cranston firstly acknowledged Countdown supermarkets and their initial contribution of almost $60,000.

“Without this large injection of money we couldn’t have even contemplated taking on this project,” she added.

Currie Construction completed the rebuild and went ‘above and beyond’ to complete the project, doing extra work on top of the brief and donating time to get the job done to a high standard.

Lytton, Gisborne Boys’ and Girls’ high school students have created and donated a number of impressive artworks to the playground.

“The art pieces are incredible, thank you to the teachers and students who have so generously donated their time and included these pieces within their annual school curriculum.”

The playground has been co-designed by Sarah Wolfe from Oliver and Wolfe Architects with a group of primary school children from the 2018 Aurora Education Trust Leadership programme. The group also raised $6,800 for the in-ground trampoline.

A sizeable contribution was also received from a trust fund originally seeded by the Cast for Kids fundraiser, created by Robert Hunter.

Gisborne Road Pirates fundraising included the basket swing and the Nick’s Head Charity has fundraised towards the oncology garden as well as much-needed medical equipment.

Many of the native plants in the playground area were donated by Kauri Forno and the Women’s Native Tree Project.

Among other contributors acknowledged during the event were:

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