Two donations totalling $25,000 from the Rotary Club of Thames and Smart Environmental is paying for two pieces of the Porritt Park playground upgrade being installed this week.

The Rotary Club's $5000 donation will pay for a new drinking fountain accessible for children and people with disabilities behind the new toilet block, while Smart Environmental is donating a $20,000 Kompan climbing shifter which is a leaning structure children can climb on.

Along with the installation of the Kompan shifter, a new swing which includes two infant seats and a seat suitable for disabled children and babies who need head support will also be installed this week.

Installation of the drinking fountain will take place at a later date and in the meantime the old fountain at Porritt Park will be moved temporarily closer to the play area before it's relocated elsewhere in Thames, possibly to the Grahamstown end of Pollen Street.

The Playco train was also put into storage this week and will be reinstalled along with the komban shifter and new swing at the south end of Porritt Park near the softfall area.

The work is expected to be finished at the end of this week.

Thames-Coromandel District Council Parks and Reserves manager Derek Thompson explains the play equipment was chosen and endorsed by a group of pupils from all five primary schools in the Thames area.

'We held workshops with the students, where representatives from playground equipment manufacturers presented their products and what each item costs. The climby shifter and the swing for disabled children were specifically chosen by the students.”

At the north end of Porritt Park, work to remove the replica Wakatere play boat is on hold while council work with WorkSafe New Zealand to make sure asbestos, which has been detected in the sub-structure of the play boat, is handled according to the required guidelines.

Once removed, work will begin on building a skate and scooter park at that location and is expected to be finished in time for the April school holiday next year.

Thames Community Board member and former Thames ward Councillor Diane Connors says it's encouraging to see this next stage of the Porritt Park upgrade.

'It's good to see the equipment being installed, ready for the summer holidays when we'll have lots of visitors. Porritt Park is the most-used playground in the Coromandel and it's a great asset for Thames.

'We'd like to encourage people visiting the Coromandel to spend some time in Thames and look around - and the playground is a great place for the kids to get a good run-around.”

Porritt Park is located on Queen Street/State Highway 25 next to Goldfields Shopping Centre.

The new equipment will be installed in the shaded area to the right of centre of the diagram. Image: TCDC