Children in Pembroke have received a generous gift from a group of insurance workers who put their hearts ¿ and backs ¿ into the cause.

Marsh employees spent two days at the Pembroke Community Centre erecting a specially ordered playground at the site, which had previously housed only a well-worn set of swings and a seesaw.

Staff at Marsh Captive Solutions, Marsh Global Markets and Guy Carpenter & Company donated $30,000 and hours of hard work to see the project through.

Their efforts were aided by the charity Keep Bermuda Beautiful and the Parks Department. An official dedication of the playground by Environment and Sports Minister El James took place on May 14.

"Marsh has three companies here and we decided that, rather than individually doing small things in the community, if we came together we could do much more meaningful things because, obviously, we would have larger numbers," explained Jill Husbands of Marsh's Captive Solutions.

"We looked at a variety of projects. Our sister company, Marsh Global Markets, had already adopted Pembroke Community Centre. They had been cleaning up trash, painting the buildings and generally trying to make it a much more pleasant place for the people who actually use it.

"It's an area where there are a lot of children who live there. There's the L'Ecole After School Service that's actually held right there, a martial arts school there, the Tae Kwon Do Association, the Bermuda Ball Hockey Association and, generally, just young people who live in Pembroke who could take advantage of using a playground and so the idea just developed over time. They can all use the new playground located on the property."

With only a set of swings and a seesaw to cater to such a huge population of children, the need was obvious and the Parks Department quickly agreed to lend its considerable expertise.

"The Parks Department was great," Ms Husbands added. "They came in and did all the landscaping to have the actual site ready for when the Marsh team came in. We couldn't have done that. They had excavators and all sorts of machinery. There's no way we could have done that without the significant support we received from them. Also they had the know-how ¿ we're insurance people."

Lucy Willetts, whose children's care programme L'Ecole After School Services, has operated out of Pembroke Community Centre for more than 20 years, said the entire community appreciated the act.

"We haven't had a playground in years," she enthused. "We seemed to be at the bottom of the totem pole having gone without one for all these years and then Marsh comes along. We're just elated. It's not just for us. It's for the neighbourhood kids also and (since its erection) it's been constantly in use."

However, the gift didn't come without blistering effort ¿ particularly on the part of the Marsh employees who spent two days hefting tools and moving various components of the playground into place.

"Putting it together was great fun ¿ at the start ¿ but it was also a learning experience for all of us," laughed William Thomas Ferrand. "We were split into different working groups, working at different times over a two-day period. I was actually involved in the final stages and by the time I'd already arrived they'd managed to do a huge amount of work."

According to Mr. Thomas Ferrand, the equipment had been shipped to the island in pieces. He and his colleagues were charged with putting the various bits together and installing them as a unit in the ground.

"There were, I'm going to say hundreds, of bolts (required) to put all these things together. We had to work out which things went where."

Fortunately, the firm the reinsurers purchased the playground from sent a specialist to supervise its construction.

"He's been doing it for 27 years. He actually flies from playground to playground in the US, putting them all up. But besides making sure all the bits went together, we had to make it children friendly. We had to make sure there weren't any sharp edges and things like that."

A soft padding was placed on the ground below as added protection for the kids, after which came the backbreaking part of the process, Mr. Thomas Ferrand stated.

"There was really heavy work. There was the cementing, picking up the huge components, which we'd assembled, and trying to put them into the holes that'd been excavated. I remember at one point there being about 15 of us trying to lift this circular slide into place and then trying to sort of, all lean against it so that it could be bolted onto the rest of it.

"I think we had about four separate sessions with all three companies combining together. It was amazing. There were so many different jobs that could be done and the guy who was organising it was very good at making sure that everybody was working all the time. There'd be people doing cementing on one side while they were bolting on the other side and the other people would be putting the perimeter railing in. Some of the holes weren't in the right place so we had to dig them out manually. I had blisters the next day from all the pickaxe work and sledgehammer work."

The end result is an all-inclusive unit, which combines a cargo netting for climbing, a slide, a fireman's pole and a flat area for playing on top, he added.

The smiles on the kids' faces were worth every ache, according to Ms Husbands.

"I went to the official opening with the Minister, El James, and there were lots of the children there then.

"They were so excited. They had to stay inside while we were working and you could see these little noses pressed up against the windows watching. "

she went on: "And then a couple of them I spoke with afterwards said they absolutely loved it and it makes such a difference. Summer holidays are coming up obviously I think the children in the area will get great use of it. I'm thrilled we managed to get it erected at this time of the year.

"Remember the people who were doing it sit at a desk everyday. They're not labourers. I think there were a few hurt fingers, scratches and a few hurting backs the next day. But the feedback I got from our staff is how much fun it was.

"How they really enjoyed it because they were actually feeling as though they were really physically doing something to help the community rather than just giving money.

"It's easy just to put your hand in your pocket, but donating time and specifically a lot of effort was actually in the end much more meaningful to everybody. It's like a win-win ¿ a win for the staff and a win for the community.

"We certainly hope that it will be part of an ongoing process.

"The three companies have come together and decided we like not just giving but doing/giving and that's the way we will proceed."