About Hingham Recreation

Management Team

Mark Thorell, Director
Kathy Walsh, Administrative Secretary
Sonya Fairhurst, Assistant Program Supervisor
Caitlin Rogers, Summer Administrator

Recreation Commission

Frank Jones, Chairman
Budd Thorne, Vice - Chair
Tom Belyea, Secretary
Paul Paget
Trevor Byrne

Mission

The mission of the Hingham Recreation Commission is to provide high quality, affordable recreation programs as well as maintain safe and accessible fields and facilities throughout the Hingham community. Our program offerings will strive to assist all Hingham residents in enhancing their physical, social and emotional well-being.

Vision

Be a recognized leader among recreation programs within the region, helping as many Hingham people as possible to live healthier and happier lives.

Provide recreation access and choices for all Hingham residents in a fair and balanced way to all ages throughout the year.

Support the Recreation Commission's independence and direct responsibility to the citizens of Hingham, by being self-sustaining, not reliant on taxpayers for operational expenses, with the management and control of all recreation assets and facilities.

2010 Annual Report

The Hingham Recreation Department is an integral part of the community with the Recreation Center attracting residents of all ages and interests. The Hingham Recreation Commission is a five member elected board. The Commission oversees the operations of the Recreation Department. The mission of the Recreation Commission is to provide high quality, affordable recreation programs as well as maintain safe and accessible fields and facilities throughout the Hingham community. The Recreation Department's program offerings strive to assist all Hingham residents in enhancing their physical, social and emotional well-being.

The Hingham Recreation Department had a successful 2010 Summer Program. There were more than 1300 children who attended the Pre-School, Playground, and Teen Extreme Programs. The popular Summer Program includes sports, field games, swimming, arts and crafts, field trips, and is staffed by an experienced and enthusiastic group of counselors. The 2010 Summer Program also featured a new and exciting series of entertainers including brand new dance and yoga instructors. The goal of the summer program is to provide Hingham children with an opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, enjoy old friends, learn new activities, improve their social skills, and foster a sense of belonging. Furthermore, in an attempt to offer the benefits of the Summer Program to a larger number of residents, the Recreation Department developed the Teen Xtreme program. This brand new program offers middle school aged Hingham residents the opportunity to get out of the house and join Recreation staff on a number of Xtreme fieldtrips including Water Country, Fenway Park, and the Boston Aquarium. Due to its success in the summer of 2010, the Teen Xtreme program will be offered again in 2011 and will hopefully become a permanent feature of the Recreation Summer Program.

The Recreation Department saw a number of upgrades in 2010, including the adoption of new Recreation software. By digitalizing its registration process, the Recreation Department is now able to offer customers with more convenient and efficient service. One major benefit of the new software is the elimination of the Summer Program lottery. Online registration will greatly increase the department's ability to manage the Summer Program and make communication with customers simpler and more efficient. In addition to increasing the ease of facility and program management, the new software has allowed the department to substantially reduce its paper usage. Thus the move to online registration has proved itself to be just as environmentally friendly as it is user friendly. While improving the management of Recreation facilities, the department has also placed a great amount of focus on the maintenance and improvement of those facilities. In 2010, Cronin baseball field underwent considerable renovation. With 1400 square feet of new sod, 2 tons of new infield mix, and a new pitching mound, the field is now prepped and ready for the 2011 baseball season.

July 4th, 2010 marked the 52nd annual running of the Hingham Road Race. One of the region's oldest footraces, this premier event starts our Independence Day celebration, and is one of the town's finest traditions. Thanks to Hingham Striders, who cultivated this growing race and reshaped it into how we know it today. Through their entrepreneurial innovation, dedication to community, and sustainable fundraising legacy, race proceeds continue to generate seed money to subsidize quality, affordable programs, finance special events, and fund capital projects. Also, race proceeds have contributed to the Rec Center game room and office, field maintenance improvements, and provided Summer Program scholarships based on need, at no cost to the tax payer. The end use of some race proceeds also generate fee revenues, offset operational and overhead costs, and pay for services provided by the Recreation Department.