Help wanted: Playcentre at a low ebb after break-in

A local playcentre is calling out to artists in Whanganui to help brighten their centre after a rough year with two significant burglaries.

Over the weekend, Eastside Playcentre in Whanganui East was broken into and its lawnmower stolen.

In September last year families arrived to discover their outside area had been broken into, with sheds open, equipment scattered and padlocks and carabiners thrown away or stolen.

President Kirsty Singleton said it had been an ongoing issue for their centre, even before she took over around 18 months ago.

“We are all feeling a bit angry, as you can imagine. It’s actually really sad because there are people out there that think it’s acceptable to damage property like that. It makes you feel quite unsafe.”

She said all the carpentry equipment had been taken out and thrown around, leaving screwdrivers stabbed into the deck around the centre.

“It’s tricky,” Singleton said. “It feels like an uphill battle sometimes running a playcentre. It’s a non-for-profit organisation and it is all run by volunteer mums, just mums trying to do their best and this is just another challenge we have to deal with.”

Singleton is asking the community to help brighten up their playcentre.

“We’re quite a small centre and I was thinking, ‘How am I going to boost people’s morale, how am I going to help us?’ because it feels like it has been violated.

“What is Whanganui known for? A lot of time, it is art.”

Eastside Playcentre is holding a working bee on January 31 and hoping a local artist would be willing to give up their some of their time.

“It’s a way of making our centre feel special and just put some love back into it,” Singleton said.

“We have a plain grey fence going around all the outside, but we also have a lot of options to create a fun wall inside. We are open to anything.”

As well as artwork, the working bee will include lawn mowing, waterblasting and weeding — just getting the centre all ready for opening on February 2.

Singleton said they have experienced the best and the worst of the community, with a number of the centre’s founding members helping where they can.

“They’ve donated some money and some are coming to the working bee and another said she is happy to mow our lawns, already a lot of love is coming our way.

“They all say it’s a really special place to them.”