A CLEVELAND site with a rich history as a church and a childcare centre has found a new life as a play space for children at St James Lutheran Kindergarten.
The Meeting Place was unveiled on Tuesday, complete with a cubby house, garden, kitchen area, picnic table and mud pit.
The journey to the new playground started in 2018 with the demolition of the 62-year-old former church on the site.
The first sod was turned on the weatherboard church in 1956. With the help of volunteers from the congregation, it was built for a grand total of 1800 pounds.
When a new brick church was built in 1971, the old building was turned into a childcare centre.
Mavis Bird from the Redlands Lutheran Church said demolishing the building was a hard but necessary decision to make.
"The childcare operated there until the building fell victim to termites, was full of asbestos ... it was not considered viable to try and salvage it," she said.
"It was a very emotional decision to demolish, as many current members of St James were among those who struggled to raise funds to build it."
Rather than letting it stand vacant, the church decided to hand the land over to the kindy.
Services leader and St James teacher Karen Mavin said endless hours of fundraising and hard work involved in creating the kindy's dream playground.
"The Meeting Place has evolved through work and dedication from our families and the wider community," she said.
"This playground is a result of the community working together to support students' education and development."
Community organisations Men's Shed and Rotary pitched in to build items like the cubby house and picnic table.
Former student at St James Lutheran Kindergarten Mel Britt, who is now a teacher at the kindy, said students were loving the new play space.
"The mud patch is very popular," she said.
"(There are) lots of sensory experiences, lots of sensory play, and a path for accessibility.
"Being able to design the playground along with the children and allied health professionals (allows us) to cater for lots of needs. We wanted to make sure it was friendly for everybody."
Ms Britt said while the kindy had grown and evolved in the previous decades, the community values remained the same.
"The true value and why I wanted to have my children have the same experience here as I did is the love and nurturing, and that's all still here," she said.
