13 Playground Programs Start Monday In Norwood-This Day In Norwood History-June 21, 1974

Recreation Department Launches 10-Week Summer Camp Schedule and Multi-Pool Operations

The townwide recreation department summer program will move into high gear Monday as programs for children get under way at 13 Norwood playgrounds. Giving families immediate seasonal access, the town’s two swimming pools — Father MacAleer’s and Hawes Brook — will be opened to the public tomorrow, remaining open until Labor Day.

A prominent new offering this year, according to Recreation Director Robert H. Ivatts, will be a pilot program for handicapped children to be held at the Civic Center. The program was coordinated cooperatively by the recreation department and the school system’s department of pupil personnel services, whose director, Rod Smith, sent out questionnaires to parents of handicapped students to determine their interest in such a program. The specialized initiative will provide a supervised day camp setting daily for the children. The Civic Center‘s indoor swimming pool will be open to the children Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for a morning swim, Mr. Ivatts noted. He stated that if the program proves to be a success, the town could qualify for federal funds to pay for its operations next year. Playground leader Cindy Soderland will be placed in direct charge of the program.

Another new structural innovation this year will be the use of two mobile playground supervisors who will tour all playgrounds on a daily basis to coordinate the active programs. The two assigned specialists are Mary Spierdowis, a recent Bridgewater State College graduate, and Christopher Macaulay, who attends Dere Pierce College in Greece. The town’s 13 playground hubs are physically located at Bond Street, the Balch School, Cleveland School, Callahan School, Winslow School, Prescott School, Oldham School, and Willett School, alongside Father MacAleer’s, Wilson Street, Ellis Gardens, and Pleasant Park. Offering youngsters a full program of arts and crafts, games, and team sports such as baseball, softball, and street hockey, the playgrounds will operate for a full 10 weeks until Aug. 30.

Swimming lessons at all levels of instruction will be offered in two-week courses all summer long at the town’s two outdoor pools and the Civic Center indoor facility. Children have already registered for the classes, and a similar format of tennis instruction will be provided through registration cards distributed in the schools last month. The tennis instruction, under the direction of Mrs. Ann Turchan, will be given at the Civic Center, Junior High School North, and Willett School courts. Dramatics will also be offered across the sites if enough student interest is demonstrated, Mr. Ivatts said. Concurrently, a full program of gymnastics will be offered; this year classes will be broken down according to age and ability. The classes will be held at Junior High School North everyday except Friday for school-age girls. On Friday, preschoolers, both boys and girls, will receive gymnastics instruction in a new, experimental program.

In addition to the standard arts and crafts activities offered at the playgrounds, more specialized craft projects will be offered under the instruction of Mrs. Margaret Amirault in afternoon sessions at the Civic Center. Program director Jerry Miller said the regular program will be featured for the first seven weeks on the playgrounds, but during the final three weeks many special activities will be held, with contests planned between various geographic sections of the town. On rainy days, an alternative program is being developed to take youngsters to movies or local bowling alleys, he added. Mr. Miller also announced a major addition to the recreation department’s Fourth of July program. The department will sponsor a large outdoor concert from 8 p.m. until midnight at the municipal parking lot on Nahatan Street. The free concert, already approved by selectmen, will prominently feature several local musical groups, he said.