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Vol. 1, No. 1
September 30, 1999
Those who are interested in helping on the Play Equipment Committee will be meeting on Wednesday, October 6, 1999 at 8 P.M. The meeting will take place at 51 Princess Road (Ellen Andrews), next to the NE entrance to the park. Please contact Ann Dorfman (244-9321) for more information. The committee will be breaking up into 3 subcommittees. The city has allocated $12500 for park improvements. The city will entertain our selection of equipment and put it out to bid. We can probably afford play equipment costing in the $5K to $8K range. There is a certain amount that needs to be allocated to site preparation, installation, and chips. Some costs can be allayed with a volunteer installation effort. We hope to get a volunteer crew together for an installation probably next May. Look at other playgrounds for ideas of what features you would like to have in our play equipment.
Many have noted that we used to have 4 old swings (in a 9 ft bay) and now we have 2 new brand new swings. Swing upgrades are underway throughout the city and there are new safety standards as to distance between swings that must be maintained (12 ft bay for 2 swings). It may be possible as part of our play budget to restore the missing swings if we can make the swing structure wider.
The Wellington Park Fest , held on Sunday, September 26, was a wonderful success. Thanks to all those who came out on a fine sunny afternoon to meet their neighbors, partake of the refreshments, play games, and generally have a great time. Over 100 people attended the event, a terrific showing of support (even competing with the Ryder Cup). At its peak, 60 adults and 30 children were counted. This could be a new record (at least in recent times) for the number of people at one time within Wellington Park. Ann Dorfman had prepared a notebook with examples of play equipment from different manufacturers. We had 17 people sign up with an interest in helping with the play equipment committee. Aldermen Dick Bullwinkle and Tony Salvucci attended and gave us a perspective on the playground funding process. Hopefully, lots of new friendships were made and old ones renewed. Let's let this past one be the First Annual Wellington Park Fest.
It was especially nice to have in attendance Ronda Andrews and her husband Bob who got Citizens for Wellington park off the ground last spring. The results of their park survey were distributed at the Park Fest. It also contained some background and contact information for the Citizens for Wellington Park If you missed getting a copy, some extras are on the bulletin board. The same information is on our web site and can be printed off from there.
We want to especially thank Pauline Goudicke (Lindbergh Ave) whose donation (even though she could not attend) paid for the delicious chocolate ice cream we enjoyed. Star Market (Auburndale) gave us a $25 gift certificate which we used there to purchase soda. Jim, the owner of Pizza Market (at River and Cherry Streets) donated a certificate for a large cheese pizza which we used for a free drawing (won by Sarah B.). Laura Lewis supplied the hot dogs and condiments while Mark Kelley brought over his propane grill to cook them (yes, we had a Newton Fire Dept. permit for the grill). Carol Kelley arranged for the donation of dishes, plates, and utensils from a wonderful anonymous friend at a party store. Special thanks to those who brought delicious desserts to share. Thanks to Luis Riobueno for doing the kid's face painting, while Ted K. made balloon animals! A final word of thanks to those who stayed around after (Leonard & Pearl Saunders, Don & Jane Quinn, and others) and helped carry tables and chairs out of the park.
Anthony Bibbo, Executive Director of the Newton Community Service Center, has taken our organization under its non-profit status wing. Tax deductible donations toward the betterment of Wellington Park (or the new play equipment) will be able to be made to "Newton Community Service Centers, Inc." with a Wellington Park designation. Watch for further details.
With permission of the Newton Parks and Recreation Department (Bob DeRubeis, Chief Supervisor), we have a bulletin board attached to the tennis court fence. If you have a notice pertaining to Wellington Park (e.g. pickup basketball notices), please feel free to post it There are usually spare tacks on the board. Please try to make sure the plastic oversheet is tacked down also.
http://wellingtonpark.8m..com is our web site. We picked this free server since it had a free address easy to remember. Please note there is no "www" in our web address. We are in the process of registering it with a number of search engines but it may take awhile until it gets into your favorite one. It can be found currently with AltaVista (www.altavista.com). There is a section on the web site for you to make public comments if you wish.
Info@wellingtonpark.8m.com is our email address. We would like to distribute information or notices of meetings or events by email if possible. So if you have an email address, please just email us and just note that you'd like to be on our distribution list. Please be assured that we sill not share this information with anyone else. Email notices will be sent "Blind CC'd" so that your address won't be seen by other recipients.
Our phone is 617-969-6222. You can dial "Yoyo Cab" if you have a hard time remembering). Just leave a message anytime at that number (it answers as Recognitive Sciences, Inc.). If you would like to be on our list or committees just leave your name, address, phone #, and email. Mail may be sent to Citizens for Wellington Park, 24 Henshaw Terrace, West Newton, MA 02465. If you want to contribute any material to the web site or this newsletter please send them along. Perhaps you'd like to write something about how the park was when you were a kid. Maybe you have some old photos we could borrow.
Anyone who wants to play pickup basketball should watch for notices on the
bulletin board. The first was scheduled for Thursday, September 30, from
6-7 P.M. This was experimental. If you want to put a notice to get some people
for a particular day/time, please go ahead. In the future it will start earlier
due to impending darkness. Maybe next spring/summer we can do basketball
(maybe VB or tennis too) on regular nights.
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