Local children are celebrating the arrival of exciting new play equipment within the play area in Meade Park, Stoke Gifford.
The new equipment, consisting of a bespoke wooden tower & bridge complex and two cradle-seat swings, replaces equipment that was 25-years old and judged to be at “end of life”.
Impact-absorbing surfaces surrounding the equipment has also been renewed using a wet pour technique.
The total cost of the project was £26,140, funded by South Gloucestershire Council through the Community Infrastructure Levy, a charge levied on new development to help improve local facilities.
The play area was closed for the duration of works, which began on Friday 28th August. It was officially reopened on the afternoon of Friday 11th September, when a number of parish councillors attended a photo call to mark the occasion.
The work was carried out by Bradley Stoke based Pentagon Play, well known for its installations at many schools across the Stokes area and, most recently, a similar scheme at the Jubilee Green play park in Bradley Stoke.
The company undertakes work across the UK and completed than 1,000 installations in 2019. It has around 40 full-time head office employees with up to 60 more working on installations.
Managing director James Collis-Pritchard commented:
“Although we are a national firm, it is always pleasing to work on something local. It also gives our employees the opportunity to take their own children and grandchildren to visit a finished scheme and appreciate the fruits of their labours.”
Parish clerk John Rendell told the Journal:
“The parish council identified the need to update the very old and dated play equipment at Meade Park and successfully managed to source funding via South Gloucestershire Council. We are delighted with the end result and I am sure local families will enjoy using this improved play space.”
“We have hundreds of users through Meade Park every day and the numbers are ever increasing, so the council is really pleased to be able to improve the service we provide, adding to the various other pieces of play equipment already in-situ in and around the park.”
He added:
“We have received extremely positive feedback from local residents, on-site face-to-face, via the parish council office and also through the Friends of Meade Park social media page.”
This article originally appeared in the October 2020 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on pages 16 & 17). The magazine is delivered FREE, nine times a year, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
