Picture: Becky Saunderson. Image No.037545
Work has begun to transform an area of wasteland off Well road into a bright new play park for youngsters in the area. Thanks to a little under a year-anda-half of determined fundraising by the return of Well road Play Park group, which has netted in excess of £60,000 from a variety of sources, the site will once again boast a modern play area safely away from the road. Play park group chairwoman rachel Cormack told the advertiser: “We’re absolutely over the moon to be at this stage, just delighted. “We had some money left over from our original fundraising, plus there’s still some coming in, and this has allowed us to buy a few more pieces of equipment over and above what we had originally planned. “The original estimate for construction time was around two weeks, although rain or bad weather will delay this, but it should be ready to open very soon. The kids are super excited, they’re really eager to get on the play park. “I think we’re al very excited – I never thought we’d be at this stage less than a year and a half from when we started.” The news was music to the ears to one of the group’s staunch supporters, local councillor Sonya Warren. “It’s just wonderful to see work
starting on this amazing project,” she said. “Last april this was just a piece of wasteland which a group of local mums had a dream of transforming into a safe and modern pay area for their kids. “It’s been a remarkable journey and I’m eagerly anticipating the official opening in the not too distant future.” The local community have been heavily involved from the beginning of the project, with youngsters consulted on what type of features they
would like to see included in the play park. The group have been supported throughout by moray Council community support worker Tracey rae. The campaign to bring a play park area back to the site – it had previously hosted such a facility although only the foundations of the equipment remained as a reminder of this – had humble beginnings when a group of local mums started a petition last april. Their driving force was the
perceived lack of play facilities in the area which could be safely accessed by children and where they could be left alone to play. The next step saw a public consultation meeting held with the primary aim of gauging support for the project in the wider community, after which a group was formed to drive things forward. a vigorous funding campaign to raise the required £60,000 swung into action, with applications lodged to a number of funding sources. There were also many generous donations from local groups.