10/6/2011

A wonderful afternoon was had by all at the official opening ceremony on 24th May with a BBQ, refreshments, sunflower and wild flower seed planting and, of course, the excitement and joy of children playing on the natural play structures for the first time.

Thank you to everyone who came on the day and supported us over the past few years. Thanks especially to Paul and John who sponsored the BBQ and ran it for us on the day, to Dave and Jan at the garage who gave us coal at cost price and to the village school, governors and PTFA who helped provide resources and refreshments. We really couldn't have done it without you!

A huge thank you also to everyone in the village! When we actually totted up the amount of money that villagers have contributed over the past nine years through pub auctions, collection boxes, individual donations, Fordstock, etc it came to a staggering £4,800.

Thank you to everyone who also kindly completed a survey of their views and thoughts on the new equipment. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive from both adults and children alike. However, there were a couple of adults who expressed some concern about children 'hanging out' in the playground late at night and I have contacted our local constabulary and asked them to patrol the playground every now and then to keep an eye on things. Having said that, I have been checking the playground around three times a week and haven't found any evidence of alochol use or vandalism so I presume that they are using the playground for socialising which is what it's there for. If anyone does have any concerns or problems, however, then please contact the Police on their non emergency line: 08452 777444.

The playground is now all but finished, waiting only for the bow top steel fencing to be installed later this month around the perimeter of the playground to replace the chain link fencing.

We now have a wonderful village amenity that has taken nine hard years to establish and £90,000 spent on it. Over those years we have only had three cases of vandalism. One was grafitti from visiting children from Paignton. A second was - we presume - local children prising up one of the toddler springers from its base which cost £150 to reinstal. We have also had the information sign sawn off twice and removed from site, which has cost us £200 to replace. Other than that our children have respectfully used the playground and the open space - long may that continue! The only problem that we are having currently is that some adults and children are taking dogs into the play area. Dogs are not allowed in any children's playground - and it clearly states 'no dogs' on the information sign at the entrance to the playground - so can you please speak to your children if you are a dog owner and ensure that they are aware that they are not allowed to take their pets into the playground.

To continue to raise the profile of the playground, to foster ownership and ensure its sustainability, we are planning to hold a bulb planting day with village children in September and a willow workshop in the early spring to build a tunnel along the perimeter of the playground that backs onto Riverdale. This is to try and create a natural barrier to prevent footballs running down the bank. Both depend on further funding received, but if successful we will advertise both of these events nearer the time.

Thanks again to everyone for all your help and support.

Jane

13/3/2011 A very successful and fun willow planting day took place last week with years 5 and 6 school children and we are now proud to have a beautiful, amazing and rather exciting willow structure in the playground which is like a maze providing a play space for children to hide, explore and sit and congregate in the middle. Go and have a look and take your children to enjoy it, it's wonderful, I think you will agree! It will take the summer and most of next year to really establish itself so it's a little bit fragile but hopefully with some TLC it will be enjoyed by our children for many years to come.

7/3/2011 The willow planting day is now taking place this Wednesday so if anyone would like to attend and help the children plant a living willow den, then please go along to the playground any time from about 10 am. Work will commence to install the play equipment in mid April and will be finished by the end of May when we will be holding a launch event to celebrate the completion of the project. We are hoping to hold this on the same day as the school's sports day so that lots of parents and children from the village are around to celebrate with us. If you would like to help out, then please give me a call on 01803 732496. We would love to hear from you. Jane

22/2/2011 Following our recent application to the Big Lottery we have been awarded a grant from the Community Spaces Fund foor £47,969. The Harbertonford Playground Refurbishment Project has been funded through the Community Spaces programme. The Community Spaces grants programme is being managed by Groundwork UK as an Award Partner to the Big Lottery Fund. Community Spaces is part of the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces initiative. Following an extensive consultation period with villagers and children via the Village Brunch, Village Life magazine, survey with school children and children around the village we put the refurbishment project out to tender to four play equipment providers: Kompan, Sutcliffe, Earthwrights and Wicksteed. All successfully submitted a tender proposal but after much consideration and review it was decided to award the contract to Earthwrights who are based in Buckfastleigh. Their design offers the best play value and fully embraces the concept of natural play with the planting of shrubs to create dens, and trees to create shade. The layout of the equipment has a natrual flow such that children can navigate the whole apparatus without touching the ground - a fantastic concept! There is plenty of space to sit and socialise and the design promotes creative and imaginitive play. The equipment uses wood from sustainable sources and will include a slide, tower, stepping stones, net, climbing logs, climbing wall, monkey rope, and the design and planting of a willow den in conjunction with the school children, most of whom live in the village. There will also be an oak bench installed and the chain link fence from the Riverdale entrance to the school fence will be replaced with steel bow top fencing, similar to the yellow entrance gate. The installation will begin some time in March and should all be completed ready for a launch event at the end of May/beginning of June.

We need some feedback from villagers on what you think of the playground so would appreciate your comments. You are welcome to ring me on 01803 732496 or email me at jj151@rocketmail.com. As I said above, we are desperate for new committe members. Once this installation is complete the playground equipment will be good for 15+ years and so very little work will need to be done by the committee other than keeping an eye on things. Can you help? Do you have young children who use the playground? If so, we would love to hear from you. We will also need some volunteers for the willow planting day so that we have some people who can prune and weave the willow as it grows. Again, can you help? I hope there is someone out there who can! Just a reminder to everyone that DOGS ARE NOT ALLOWED in the playground. We are still experiencing problem with dog feceas so would appreciate everyone's cooperation by not taking dogs into this area. Dog feceas can cause blindness so we need to eliminate this risk by ensuring dogs do not use the playground as a toilet. I hope to hear from some mums and dads soon .... hopefully it's you! Jane

Following attendance at the village brunch and several discussions with children and parents, it became clear that not everyone is aware that the playground next the school is open to all villagers. There is open access to the this play facility from Riverdale at all times of the day so please feel free to use it at any time. There are benches and a picnic table also so why not take a picnic?

On another matter, we are desperate for new committee members. As we are now coming to the end of the refurbishment project the playground will merely need keeping an eye on to ensure maintenance or vandalism issues are reported to the council and that litter is cleared up regularly along with dog mess if there is any (though there shouldn't be!). The committee will probably only need to meet around four times a year and that's about it. There won't be any fund raising or major events to be organised as all the hard work has now been done. Unfortunately, the three remaining committee members now have children who are too old to use the playground so we really need some fresh blood to take this up and continue to work with the parish council to ensure this facility is maintained for generatioons to come. Any queries please give me a ring on 01803 732496. Jane

Introduction
We are a group of three 'mums' of village children who recognised the need to refurbish the existing playground site adjacent to the village school around nine years ago and set out with purpose and drive to do just that! Since then we have raised in excess of £35,000 to refurbish the playground with play and sports equipment which now includes a set of five-a-side goal posts, a see saw, a set of flat swings and cradle swings, a roundabout, two toddler springers and basket ball hoop in addition to signage and seating. The equipment installed was chosen in response to consultation undertaken with the village children through the primary school, youth club and with children in the streets and at the bus stop and very much reflects their wishes and needs.

Last year South Hams District Council identified that the two original pieces of equipment - the climbing frame and slide - are in such a state of disrepair that they will need to be removed and their replacement programmed. As a result of this notification we undertook another consultation period with the village children once again along with a request for comments through the village life. This identified that the children wanted willow dens, climbing and physical activities and that they very much enjoyed the slide.

We have put an application in to the Community Spaces Big Lottery Fund for some grant aid and have secured funding from County for £2,000 and £3,000 from South Hams District Council. It is proposed that we will provide additional seating, some logs/stepping stones, a multi activity climbing frame, new fencing to replace the damaged chain link fencing, willow dens and a new embankment slide.

We would welcome any comments on the proposals and/or suggestions you have for the playground and the equipment or activities you would like installed. We would also very welcome new committee memembers as we are now just three.

Please send your comments to me at jj151@rocketmail.com or post them here. All comments will be viewed at committee and used to determine the exact nature of the equipment to be installed later this year/early next year. Comments should be submitted by 14th April please