The newly refurbished King George V playground was officially opened on Thursday, 20th June.  Officiating at the event and cutting the ribbon was Councillor John Pape from Appleby Town Council and Alan McViety representing Appleby Rotary Club.  Children from Shining Stars Nursery, Appleby Primary and Grammar Schools came to help celebrate the opening.

Nearly £30,000 was raised through local fundraising events and donations. The fundraising committee organised a number of events, including Easter, Halloween and Christmas parties, bingo nights, cream teas and duck races. Local organisations and businesses have also been extremely generous in supporting the fundraising appeal, in particular Appleby Rotary Club, NFU Mutual, Appleby Fire Service and Eden Young Farmers.

“ Rotary are honoured to have supported the playground fundraising efforts.
This has been an amazing achievement and has only been made possible by the whole
community getting behind the committee to support their fundraising efforts.”

[commented Alan McViety representing Appleby Rotary] 

Appleby Town Council was first approached by a small group of local residents in September 2022 regarding the condition of the playground, asking if the Council could do anything to help.  The playground equipment was 25-35 years old and the majority of it was very tired looking and quite dilapidated, with many pieces being unsafe and having only one working swing. The playground is owned and managed by Eden District Council, who have a very limited budget to maintain the many playgrounds located in their district and although they were planning to carry out some minor repairs to the playground, were unlikely to be in a position to carry out any major refurbishment in the foreseeable future.

The Council agreed that the Clerk could provide support to the group and the Council would act as the accountable body for the fundraising committee, managing the finances and overseeing the project management and installation, providing the District Council agreed to this.  Permission was received and over the following 12 months, £75,000 was secured by the Council from a number of grant providers, which together with the money raised through local fundraising events and donations meant the group had a budget of £103,000 to spend on the playground refurbishment.

The Council led on the procurement process and following a competitive tender process, with designs submitted by seven suppliers, HAGS UK were unanimously appointed to install the new playground.

“ This is the result of nearly 2 years of hardwork by everyone involved and
the original fundraising target of £90,000 has been surpassed by over £10,000.
Everyone should be extremely proud of themselves.”

[commented Cllr John Pape]

The re-imagined playground is colourful and exciting and includes a zip wire, two multi-play towers, a climbing pyramid, inclusive roundabout and rope swing.

Sue Gilbertson, Town Clerk
Friday, 21st June 2024