Kid’s oasis a retreat for mum

Oasis New Life Centre's Oasis World Café and Play Centre provided endless hours of fun for Rockhampton kids.

L-R Waverley Marsh (10), Jay Marsh (6), Joseph Sondergeld (12), and Braelan Marsh (8) at the Oasis World play centre and cafe at the old Kershaw House on Glenmore Road. Photo: Chris Ison / The Morning Bulletin. Picture: Chris Ison

ROCKHAMPTON'S Joseph Sondergeld has spent the past two weeks in a kid's oasis.

Joseph, 12, is one of the many children who've spent endless hours on the new inside playground that was opened by the Oasis New Life Centre, a local church in Rockhampton.

Joseph said the play centre was a great place to spend the school holidays.

"I've been here four times, it's such a fun place to hang out," he said.

"I bring my friends here but I also make heaps of new friends on the playground which is really fun.

"My favourite part of the playground are the two slides, one is really long but the other is really fast."

Oasis World Café and Play Centre manager Luke Sondergeld said the first two weeks of the new business had been a great success.

"We've had a lot of positive comments from the community about the play centre and café," he said.

"We saw a lot of local travellers from Gladstone and Emerald take the opportunity to stop in when they were passing through over the school holiday period. In the first week we had just over 560 visitors.

"A lot of people like the quiet atmosphere of the café where the parents can have their own relaxing time enjoying a coffee while the kids can play."

Oasis Community Services is the community care arm of Oasis New Life Centre which is part of the Australian Christian Churches. The church was established in Rockhampton in April 2002.

Oasis Community Services manager Matthew Doyle said the aim of the new café and play centre was to benefit the local community.

"The idea came from our senior leadership and it was about utilising the great facility in the way that would provide a benefit to the whole community," he said.

"The whole process has taken about a year so it's good to see it all up and running.

"For us it was a just a great opportunity to give mum somewhere quite to sit while the kids go off and play.

"Being an extension of the church, we are a non-for- profit community organisation so the plan is that any of the surplus that comes from this centre will go back into our charitable activity we have in the community."

Originally published as Kid’s oasis a retreat for mum