The Friends of King George V Park have secured a £2,500 Council grant towards improvements to recreational facilities for teenagers.
Work will begin on 29 August and involve: installation of an outdoor, concrete table-tennis table; creation of 'bespoke, colourful, linear seating where kids can hang out'; painting of existing equipment; and some ground levelling, paving and path laying.
Friends Secretary Judy Conn told Spurtle the group have teamed up with Action for Children who, among other schemes, promote children's welfare and run Youth Challenge projects. In these, 16–18-year olds who are not in education, employment or training are offered a 6–8-week programme of well-supervised work experience.
'There are benefits all round,' says Conn. 'Twelve young people from north Edinburgh will profit from the opportunity offered by the work experience while leaving a lasting legacy for younger local teens.'
[The park users snapped by Spurtle this afternoon are probably not the core target group envisaged by the Friends. Rock climbers in training, they used it as a test of strength and agility. The figure on top got there using his arms alone. He assured his less successful companion that it was 'the gnarliest pull-up in Edinburgh'.]