Newsletter
New-look playground take shape
By Giles Knowles
The first stage of the playground renovations is now almost complete.
Gill Chudley’s Living Willow house has made remarkable growth and by next year, when in leaf, will let hardly any light into the interior. We are very grateful to Gill for the generous donation of both her time and her skills. It is a super and original new addition.
The new climbing frame
is now in place and I am most grateful to the members of the Playground
Sub-Committee and Michelle Patte-Dobbs who have provided the ideas and driving
spirit behind the venture. Wood does not come cheap but it looks so much
better than plastic. We hope that you young people will make good use of
it. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Playground Team for their generous donation of £200.
The next stage will be the addition of two ‘springies’ and a mini- roundabout which will be specifically for toddlers. This will complete the first stage.
The next stage will comprise the addition of more picnic tables, a basket ball and goal post unit together with an ‘adventure trail’. We have had the rep. round and it looks excellent. We need to go and see one in action. We have approached 37 firms both nationally and internationally and we hope to get one item from Germany (very practical as you might expect!). We are still applying for grants as we need more money – lots of it! This has been a steep learning curve for all of us: the Climbing Frame cost £7,700 plus VAT (we shall get the VAT refunded in April 2007).
Lastly I would like to thank all those who completed the questionnaire and sent it to us. We were also particularly pleased to get a delightful ‘Thank You’ card from Isabella and Lou-Lou Cottam. If the younger people like it and use it that’s good enough for us!