Christ Episcopal Church - Walley Playground

2011 Playground Restoration

On a recent pleasant July evening, parish volunteers were joined by neighborhood children in spreading 22 cubic yards of 'play cushion' around the Walley Playground on the Christ Church campus.

The play cushion needs to be refreshed every couple of years. We got this year's delivery in place just in time for Summer Camp to start - well, really we just one day late!

In a classic "Tom Sawyer Fence Painting" moment, as soon as the chips were unloaded (two dumptruck loads!) and the shovels and rakes came out - and especially when parishioner Fred showed up with his front-end loader - the neighborhood children were out in droves to 'help'. By the end of the evening all the chips were distributed, and 75 hotdogs had also been dealt with.

Walley Playground

Carole Ann Walley was a Junior High School teacher in Newburgh, New York; sister of our parishioner, Cynthia Lee; and mother of a former Director of our Summer Camp, Tory Walley. Carol

e had a love for all children, the Christ Church Summer Camp, and the outdoors. In Carole's memory her husband, Paul Walley, donated state-of-the art playground equipment as a gift to the children of our community, replacing the existing 20-year-old, deteriorating wooden equipment on the north side of our property.

This 4000 square foot state-of-the-art playground was installed in 2005. Nearly 100 volunteers came together to complete the work in one day: parents of Clinton School children, students from the Poughkeepsie High School National Honor So

ciety, neighbors around the church, residents from Daytop Prep School, members of the Virgin of Guadalupe congregation, parents of Christ Church Summer Camp children, NYS DOT retirees, Bolger House residents, parishioners of Christ Church and St. Paul's, and many others.

Numerous businesses and org

anizations also contributed towards the completion of the project: the City of Poughkeepsie, Clinton School, Parkitects Installers, Royal Carting Service Co., Mannino Electric, Handy Rent-All, Tilcon (Trap Rock), B-Dry Systems of Southern New York, Price Chopper, Stop & Shop, Davies Hardware, Darling Sand & Gravel, Superior Sanitation, Package Pavement Co., Inc., Unilock New York, Adams Fairacre Farms.

Many people purchased "nuts & bolts" for $5 apiece to support the effort financially. The Lee and DeCapua families, also related to Carole Walley, added to the original donation from Carole's husband, Rev.

Paul Walley.

The organizers of installation of the Walley Playground were Jim Bliss, Cynthia Lee, and Paul Walley. Their subcommittee members were Yvonne Poley-Angstom, Peggy Kraft, Denise Quis, Jack Angstrom, Paul Fraser, James Monteith, Mike George, Rosemarie Calista, and Rose Marie Proctor.

On Sunday, June 5, 2005, Bishop Don Taylor led a processional at end of 10:00 service out the fron

t doors of the church and around to the Walley Playground and thanked God for the blessing of this incredible gift to the parish, an

d more importantly to the children of our neighborhood.