Thirteen Playground Programs Start Monday In Norwood-June 22, 1974

Recreation Department Launches Pilot Handicapped Day Camp And Expands Multi-Sport Programming

The townwide recreation department summer program will move into high gear Monday as programs for children get under way at 13 Norwood playgrounds. 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 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 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 said. The program was coordinated 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. Mr. Ivatts said if the program is a success the town could qualify for government funds to pay for it next year. Playground leader Cindy Soderland will be in charge of the program.

Another new innovation this year will be the use of two graduate playground supervisors who will tour all playgrounds on a daily basis to coordinate the programs. The two, Mary Spierdowis, a recent Bridgewater State College graduate, and Christopher Macaulay, who attends Derr Pierce College in Greece, will provide better supervision and better programs, Mr. Ivatts maintained. The town’s playgrounds are located at Bond Street, the Balch School, Cleveland School, Callahan School, Winslow School, Prescott School, Oldham School, and Willett School, 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 10 weeks, until August 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 through cards distributed in the schools last month. Tennis instruction, under the direction of Mrs. Ann Turchan, will be given at the Civic, junior high north, and Willett School courts. Dramatics will be offered if enough interest is demonstrated, Mr. Ivatts said.

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 the junior high north everyday except Friday for school-age girls. On Friday preschoolers, both boys and girls, will receive gymnastics instruction in a new, experimental program, Mr. Ivatts said. In addition to the arts and crafts activities offered at the playgrounds, more specialized craft projects will be offered under the instruction of Mrs. Margaret Amirault afternoons 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 sections of the town. On rainy days, a program is being developed to take youngsters to movies or bowling alleys, he added. Mr. Miller also announced an addition to the recreation department’s July 4 program. The department will sponsor an outdoor concert from 8 p.m. until midnight at the municipal parking lot on Nahatan Street. The free concert, already approved by selectmen, will feature several local groups, he said.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger