For many of us, Monday mornings are greeted with grudging acceptance that the weekend has ended, and a new work week has begun.
For 37 grade two and three students from Meaford Community School though, this past Monday morning brought with it a reason to smile.
The smiles began as they filed out of their yellow school bus and found themselves standing in front of what is possibly the world's largest porch swing.
Rob Mahy who built the giant structure was all smiles too as he watched the young students climb aboard his creation.
Those smiles on the students faces were the very reason for Mahy's recent initiative. Having heard about the need to replace the playground equipment at MCS, Mahy asked himself how he could help out, and he decided to put his carpentry skills to work.
“What we were going to do was to build a couple of our normal porch swings and donate them to be sold off, maybe raise a couple thousand dollars” Mahy told The Independent.
After having coffee with friends, the conversation turned to speculation of how large the world's biggest porch swing might be. After some time on the internet searching for other large porch swings, Mahy thought he could build something even better than what has been done previously.
After seven weeks of construction with the help of friends, Mahy has built a swing that measures 36 feet across. The top beam of the structure hovers nearly 20 feet above the ground. The full width of the structure is nearly 41 feet.
“The actual swing itself is 11 metres, and it is just about 20 feet high. Basically what we did is we scaled up one of our small units,” says Mahy.
As for why Mahy would enlist the help of friends, and dedicate seven weeks to such a project, his answer is simple.
“I'm the eldest of six kids, I know how important play time really is. I know how important that break is for the teachers too. The kids are a lot more receptive after they've gone out and blown off a little steam. I know, I spent a few years there volunteering in the winter. Carpentry gets a little slow, so I put my time to good use down at the school,” offers Mahy.
After seeing the impact on the students of losing their playground equipment, Mahy says that it “ripped my heart out” and he decided that he had to find a way to help.
“Let the children play. That's our motto on this whole deal,” said Mahy.
Nearly all of the materials for the swing are recycled, and the wood itself is Ontario White Cedar that came from trees that had been downed by wind on neighbour Rob Gardner's property.
“Most of the metal parts are all recycled. There's only four parts in there that aren't. Merv and Dennis Risk were just amazing, they are engineers beyond belief,” beamed Mahy as he stood before the structure that he and his friends have built.
The structure clearly received the stamp of approval from the 37 students from MCS who wasted little time before climbing onto the swing, which incidentally was large enough to accommodate all of them at one time.
Those 37 smiles could not compete with the smile on Mahy's own face as he gave the students a push to get the swing in motion.
The plan now is to auction off the swing and donate the money raised to the school as part of their ongoing fundraising initiative to replace their playground equipment, and Mahy is thinking big.
“We'd like to raise as much money as we can. We'd like to pile it up at $1,000 per foot, so that is $20,000 to get to the top rail,” offered Mahy.
For Kara Bowles, Principal of MCS, the effort put into the project by Mahy and his helpers reinforced her belief that Meaford residents always step up to meet the needs of their community.
“What can I say? The community of Meaford has been fabulous to the school in our endeavours to get this playground built. We're half way there, and it's all been in donations from businesses, individuals like Rob, service groups, it's just overwhelming. It's a great feeling, we're thrilled,” Bowles told The Independent as she watched the students on the giant swing.
Meaford Mayor Francis Richardson who was on hand to watch the students enjoy Mahy's creation, was equally impressed with the continued dedication to community of Meaford residents.
“Well, this says what I have said all along, and that is that the people in our community will take the talents and expertise that they've got and say 'what can I do that is great and unique?' and this is really tremendous. It's just great that we've got people that will take a look at something that needs to be done and find a way to help,” offered Richardson.
