Whaddon Playground Project
Over the last few years the number of children living in Whaddon has increased dramatically. However the playground area, the only amenity in the village for children, has gone into decline. Indeed the Village Plan, commissioned by the Parish Council in 2004 and adopted in 2006, identified the existing provision as being poor.For the children we now have just four swings, a climbing frame that is woefully inadequate and a slide that fills with water (see the photograph below). |
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In response, the 'Whaddon Playground Project' was formed in 2007 with the aim of providing a new play area in the village. It is the project's belief that provision for children should be a priority for any community. The benefits are well documented – somewhere for the children to go; a sense of ownership and 'belonging' to the community; achievement through play; and not least a play area that means we, the parents, know where our children are. We are now very close to achieving our aim. With a contribution of £15,000 from South Cambridgeshire District Council, £3,000 from Whaddon Parish Council, and over £6,000 raised through fundraising (namely from the annual ‘Party in the Barn’ event) we have raised in excess of £24,000. Everyone involved should be very proud of themselves. In November 2009 we were asked to apply for a further £40,000 from the Play Pathfinder scheme, a central government initiative being offered by Cambridgeshire County Council. Having already done a lot of the work required – questionnaires, village presentations etc – we are now at the last hurdle of finalising a design. At present, the favoured design is by Fenland Design, a respected and local playground manufacturer. Their full proposal can be viewed by clicking on the picture to the right. We hope to confirm that work will begin on the new playground by the end of March 2009. A set of slides taken from a presentation on the playground is available by clicking on this link (a 1.7 MB zip file). |
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'Whaddon Playground Project' would like to thank everyone involved in the scheme, and hopes for continued support in our working towards a better and more inviting playground for the ever increasing number of children in the village.
For further information, please contact Neil Gallery on 01223 208796