Oban adventure rope park hanging on for new home
An adventure rope park from Oban’s demolished Kilbowie outdoors centre has been saved from the scrap-heap – but needs to find a new home, writes Kathie Griffiths.
The equipment for children, valued between £20,000 and £30,000, was given free to the town after demolition firm Dem-Master cleared the Kilbowie site at Gallanach, with MacQueen Bros Ltd agreeing to store it short-term for free.
It is hoped that Argyll and Bute Council might adopt it Ganavan, Oban High School Oban Rugby Club or Dunbeg have all been suggested as places it could go.
Laura Corbe, a member of Oban Community Council and a volunteer director with the not-for-profit Adventure Oban group, previously raised the proposal with the community council and it was agreed a number of potential site owners be approached with notice also sent to the Oban, Lorn and the Isles area committee of Argyll and Bute Council in the hope it can be adopted by the authority.
Volunteers from the community spent three-days de-rigging the rope park that is in great condition, suitable for children aged eight and upwards and can be modified.
Mrs Corbe had suggested it might suit an area of council-owned land near the defunct swing frame at Ganavan with a public survey demonstrating a strong appetite for a play park there.
Other potential sites include Oban High School and Oban Rugby Club or Dunbeg.
Oban, Lorn and the Isles councillors have discussed the rope park at a business day since. Members suggested the best way forward was for Adventure Oban to contact the council’s operations manager for roads and infrastructure Tom Murphy who might have some suggestions to a suitable location.
One of Adventure Oban’s director Isla McCulloch said: ‘It’s great we have got it now and have saved it from going to landfill. A lot of people are asking about it and have offered to help rig it up when we find it a new home.’