A NEW children’s playground has opened in a village just outside Salisbury.
The playground, in Broad Chalke, had an informal opening on Saturday, July 20, after £120,000 was raised to replace and update play equipment.
The money was raised through the Friends of Broad Chalke Playground (FoBRP).
FoBCP treasurer Martin Altham said that he worked with Broad Chalke residents Rosie Morgan and Victoria Pickford to get the project completed.
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He said: “I’m a parish councillor, and in October 2022 I put my hand-up when the clerk said we needed someone to raise money for new playground equipment. At the time I had no idea how much it would cost, or how much it needed.
“But I joined forces with a couple of ladies in the village – Rosie and Victoria – both of whom have young children, and we started looking into what to do with the old equipment.
“We started this in early 2023, and we thought that we would just replace the two items which looked the most obvious to replace, which looked a bit sad. And then someone came up with the idea of replacing them with ‘something really good’, and I think at that point it was about £15,000 to do the work we wanted to do. But then the ladies came back and said, ‘Actually, we want to replace the whole darn lot.’”
Martin said that, while Rosie and Victoria set about researching what children would want to see in a playground, including visiting schools and setting up competitions, he tried to sort out financing the scheme, with some money coming from the Wiltshire Area Board.
He eventually reached out to the Discworld Foundation, set up by former Broad Chalke resident and author Sir Terry Pratchett, with the charity giving £30,000.
Martin said that the design became increasingly ambitious, with him eventually successfully applying to the National Lottery to provide some more funding.
The work to build the playground was supplied by Home Front Outdoor Play, a manufacturer from Dinton which also provided the design.
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The equipment was installed in May, before being opened in July.
Martin said that the playground will receive a formal opening at the Chalke Valley Fete on Saturday, August 17, with John Glen MP and Wiltshire County Councillor Nabil Najjar in attendance.
Martin said: “It’s one impressive playground, it’s something we’re incredibly proud of. We hope it will last many years to come.
“It’s fantastic that it’s open. It is far better than we expected when we first kicked off this programme last year. And the feedback we get, people just think it’s wonderful.”
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