Cork bags another great play scheme

A new initiative that literally brings bags of fun to communities across Cork city has been officially launched.

The Community Play Bags scheme will see a bag full of resources and equipment housed in 7 libraries across Cork city available to community groups and organisations to borrow.

The play bags will contain a treasure trove of fun-fuelling items including snakes and ladders, ludo, a parachute, a tug of war rope and plenty more.

The scheme, which was developed by Cork City Libraries and members of the Let’s Play Cork initiative, was launched recently at the Tory Top Library in Ballyphehane where children from nearby An Cliabháin Parent and Toddler Group were on hand to test out the play equipment from the bag.

Let’s Play Cork is an interagency partnership between Cork Healthy Cities, Cork Local Sports Partnership, Foróige, Cork City Council, Cork City Libraries, and Young Knocknaheeny.

Commenting on the scheme Catherina Lane, Sports Facilitator with Cork Sports Partnership, said: “We are delighted to be able to finally launch this fantastic new scheme as part of the Let’s Play Cork Initiative.

“It will be of huge benefit to the many groups and communities locally in Cork city who are keen to organise play activities and events over the summer. We would like to acknowledge the support of the Cork City Library service who have been extremely supportive of this scheme from the start and look forward to working with them in the future.”

Eibhlin Cassidy, Executive Librarian for Cork City Libraries, outlined the role the libraries will play in the initiative: “Play and stories are intertwined making the public library a natural advocate for the right to play for all ages and all communities. Recognising that play is an essential ingredient for individual and community wellbeing, Cork City Libraries provides access to play for all, regardless of age, through playful programming and collection development.

“The community play bag initiative will allow communities to access play equipment for fun days and special events. We would like to acknowledge the support of Cork Sports Partnership in making this initiative a reality and we are really looking forward to seeing the community play bags being used to promote and support access to play in communities across Cork city.”

The play bags are available for schools, community groups and organisations to borrow from Cork City Libraries. To borrow a bag, log on to corksports.ie and register using the form provided.