Inverbervie's new Cutty Park is now open

By Jo-Anna Bean

A new playpark has been opened on Laurel Crescent in Inverbervie.

Christened "The Cutty Park" in honour of Inverbervie's connection to the famous ship and the references to Robbie Burns' poem Tam O'Shanter, the new park opened officially on Saturday (25/10/14).

It sports a massive wooden ship climbing frame, and many other brand new slides, swings, climbing ropes, roundabouts and seesaws which the local children have scarcely left alone since the opening.

The Cutty Park's first visitors - Photo copyright to Bervie Play Parks

The park has been a long time coming and would not be here at all if it wasn't for the Bervie Play Parks committee, who got together and decided to reinvigorate the village's rather out-dated playparks.

It started when Carol Evans phoned Aberdeenshire Council and queried whether they were going to do something about the parks in Inverbervie.  They said they didn't have anything planned, but if the people got a committee together, the council would work with them.

The Committee had to raise all the funds to go towards the new park, and the council would help with general maintenance.

The new swings - Photo copyright to Bervie Play Parks

Dawn Sinclair, a member of the committee, said: "So, it was basically just a group of friends who got together and said, 'right, well let's just do it then', and so we did."

"It'll be three years in November since we started, and now it's open it's a great feeling."

The massive fundraising project they have undertaken over the past three years has included an annual Halloween Party, abseiling, a Diamond Jubilee Party in the Square, and an annual Hogmanay party in the Burgh Hall.

In addition to this, they received Lottery Funding and a grant from the People's Millions.

Under construction - Photo copyright to Bervie Play Parks

All in all, the cost came to just under £100,000.

A highlight for them was hosting the Diamond Jubilee Party in the Square.  Dawn said: "The whole community came together really well, The Queens [Arms Pub] provided us with their toilet facilities, the newspaper shop stocked up on juices and things like that, the Church got involved, the Cubs and Scouts paraded in with their flags, it was a fair day!"

"Still not as good as Saturday when the fence was finally removed from around the park though!"

Donna McNally, also a member of Bervie Play Parks, said: "Yeah it was tiring, but really rewarding."

When choosing the design for the park, they had three options from different companies.  Donna said of the choice: "Well, because we'd all worked so hard for three years we wanted something big and 'wow', and the one with the big boat made a statement as well as having a connection to the Cutty Sark.

"The other sketches were really good too, they all had their advantages, but this one just stood out more."

The design was implemented by Wicksteed Playgrounds.

The new park would have been open in July, but construction was hampered when they discovered the area had an underground hole - which used to house a water tank - which then had to be surveyed and then filled.

This is not the end for Bervie Play Parks, who have now set their sights on the area around Bervie Sports Centre.

This project is more ambitious than the one they have just completed, it will involve making a park twice as big, but also moving the car park for the area and expanding it.

Dawn said: "This one will take twice the money and twice the work, so we will be continuing with the community fundraising as much as we can."

Their annual Halloween Haunted House, which has a number of spooky activities for the kids including throwing a wet sponge at the witch, facepainting and cakes, will be taking place on Friday 31st of October in the Burgh Hall.

Neil Paterson, member of the committee, estimated that the cost for this project will be around half a million.

Despite the Cutty Park only being open for less than a week, they are already filling out their application forms for the next project.