New play park for Christmas in Dilton Marsh

CHRISTMAS has come early for youngsters in Dilton Marsh as the parish council has opened a new £45,000 play park.

RAPID (Recreation and Play in Dilton) has designed a brand new play park for the younger children of the village – with the help from a £10,000 National Lottery grant; funding from Westbury Area Board, Dilton Parish Council and the Community Landfill tax.

Nicola Duke, clerk for Dilton Parish Council said, “The original play park was getting old and did not provide the space for children to engage in role play. We wanted something more interactive, modern and attractive.

“We did lots of research with the community and spoke to the school about what the children wanted. We settled on the design with the help of RAPID and used timber so it was long lasting and blended in to the surroundings, as there is already a long timber trail that was put in place back in May, that was kindly funded by Tesco’s ‘Bags for Life’ scheme.

“The play area features a wizard’s hideaway, a pirate ship with binoculars and a standard roundabout amongst other things. It was a real community effort and was completed on Friday 17th November.”

Alison Irving, chairman of Dilton Parish Council said, “The children absolutely love it, even this time of year, but it will look so lovely in the summer. The boat is one of the most popular items and we are very pleased with it. We do hope to extend the area in the future and feature an adult gym section.”

Steve Sutherland, member of RAPID added, “It has been great to be a part of creating this area. We have been busy fundraising to add to the funds by hosting cake sales at parish meetings. The final product looks great and we are really happy with how it turned out.”