Residents in Crossgar joined in a protest on Tuesday morning following the arson attack on their new state-of-the-art playpark just built in January 2014.
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Paul Teggart, Crossgar CommunityAssociation Chairman addresses the local residents in The Green at the protest following the burning of the new play park.[/caption]
Local politicians and community activists gathered in The Green to support the residents demonstrating their absolute disgust at the arson outrage.
Councillor Terry Andrews (SDLP) condemned the arsonists and said: “There has been such a great surge of community reaction in Crossgar from both sides of the community. This is not an issue relating to the Twelfth – it is simply a deliberate act of vandalism and is to be wholeheartedly condemned.
“Whoever did this really needs time behind bars to reflect on what they have done. I sincerely hope they are caught by the police who are currently investigating it.
Speaking at from the scene, Newry Mourne and Down District Councillor Robert Burgess (UUP) said: “This will cause a lot of disruption in Crossgar over the summer months and I just hope that the culprits are caught and given a hefty sentence for the serious and deliberate damage caused.
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Supporting the protest: Lynn Forbes with James Greaves and Katie Forbes, with Lyndsay and Maisie Karim.[/caption]
“It will likely take the most of the summer to repair the playpark. I know the Council will do all it can to help in this tragedy.”
Paul Teggart, Crossgar Community Association Chairman, offered some hope to the parents and children and said: “We’ll keep at it. Crossgar has had little for years. We will do all in our power to make sure that he playpark is fully reinstated. And I repeat my call for anyone who may have information on this fire, to contact the police or myself by leaving a unanimous letter off in the Post Office.
“It happened around 1-1.30 am on early Sunday morning. Someone must know who did this.”
Cllr Harry Harvey (DUP) said: “This playpark is not usable of the moment and will need a major refit and clean up. It will need to be safe safe for the children and will no doubt require a full inspection from council officials.
“Hopefully our staff will address this issue and fix it all up and even make it a better playpark. We need to get it open with what we have as soon as possible. We certainly need to remove the tower structure. Tyres were used to burn it down and you can clearly see the wires from the tyres in the ashes. And there was even one tyre stuck up the frame which clearly suggests it was a deliberate arson and not just a prank gone wrong.”
Cllr Colin McGrath (SDLP) said that he had spoken to many parents and they basically summed it up as ‘disgraceful’.
“This will be a great loss to the community for the summer months. It will be incumbent on the Council now to fix it up.”
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Maisie Karim, Katie Forbes, Finnie Gormley, centre, Kate Gormley, member of Crossgar Community Assiciation, and Frances Tweedie with Gabriel Gormley.[/caption]
Cllr Gillian Fitzpatrick, (SDLP) Vice Chairperson of Newry Mourne and Down Council was also disturbed at the fire devastation and said: “This is really so sad. It is a huge loss to the children in this community.
“I totally condemn this arson attack… it is just not acceptable to do this sort of thing. Council officials have acted promptly to make the playpark safe and we will do what we can to restore it top the excellent facility that it was.
“I know if this happened in my community in Mayobridge it would be an absolute disaster. I know that the old Down District Council and the local group did a huge amount of work to get the playpark installed. It was a deliberate act of violence on our area and this cannot be tolerated.
“So I’d like to thank Terry Andrews for organising this protest today for the residents. We will di what we can to get this play park back open again in due course.”
Michael Shephard, local businessman, said that he was disgusted at the fire and added that it was “scandalous” and that he was “deeply saddened but it all.” He said: “This playground was an important meeting point for parents, grand-parents and friends and it is an attack on the community. I feel for the members of the Crossgar Communbity Association who worked so hard to get this facility t0 Crossgar”.
Local mum Clare Keenan said that “My young daughter just cannot understand why it is closed. We’ve been using it regularly for three weeks and now for a while at least its gone. It was a really good meeting place for the children and a superb social space for the adults. Now its all fenced off.”
And another mum Lynn Forbes added: “These people are just deranged. I would have been in the playpark with my child at least twice a day since last summer. I’m delighted that the residents have stuck together and shown their support today.
“Our community is united is its loss and determination to restore our playpark.”
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Protesters in Crossgar call for the reinstatement of the damaged playpark.[/caption]
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