Thomas Gunn a dedicated volunteer at Sudbury playground for 40 years

A love of skating is what got Thomas Gunn hooked as a volunteer at Rosemarie Playground in Greater Sudbury. Forty years later, he's still volunteering.

Gunn says the big job at the playground is making the ice, and the changing environment has had an impact on when the ice gets made.

"When we first started, we had ice on the first of December. Now we're lucky to get ice the first of January," said Gunn.

Making the ice is a team effort. He says a group of volunteers helps get the ice started. Then there's the flooding and the shovelling after a big dump of snow — even the kids come out to help — and there's always hot chocolate and board games in the shack on the extra cold days.

Gunn says it's amazing to see a child come to the rink for the first time and learn how to skate. While they might be hesitant at first, Gunn says "after a week or two you see them out there and they're showing you, 'See, Tom! Look! I can skate' and they're skating."

"It makes you feel very good because ultimately they're learning something new and they pass that on to another person. It's a really good feeling," he said.

Skating isn't the only thing the kids are learning. "They learn to socialize," said Gunn. "They learn to treat each other well and they self-police after a while. So, if there's any foul language, that just disappears. They start treating each other with respect. They become friends."

When his wife Linda died a few years ago, Gunn thought about packing it in at the playground. But his two daughters and a friend convinced him to stick around. "I will never go now," said Gunn. "There's just too much going on. It's wonderful to see the kids."

And the kids he taught how to skate years ago are now coming to the playground with their own children. 

Gunn has some sage advice for those who might want to volunteer at the playground. "If your children are coming over to skate, come over once in a while with them and if you see the ice needs a little bit of cleaning, find somebody who looks like he may know what he's doing. They'll just pass you a shovel."

"If you can spare an hour twice a week to come out with your children and skate and participate that'd be a great help to people like us who are here all the time," he added.

Gunn says being a playground volunteer is a wonderful experience. "I think I get as much out of it as the kids do. Really."