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Swinging start to school holidays

Mrs Stockley opens new playground

Bang on time for the start of the school holidays, Little Hadham’s new playground with £50,000 of state-of-the-art equipment was opened by Mrs Liz Stockley, head of the village Primary School.

An aerial runway is one of the highlights of the new playground, which also features a ‘Nexus’ adventure centre with climbing wall and ‘banister rail’ slide. Other new equipment includes a roundabout, swings for children of different ages, a teenage ‘chatroom’ and picnic tables.

Re-equipping the playground is the first major achievement of Little Hadham’s Parish Plan, one of the first to be published in East Herfordshire. Research for the plan showed the need for more activities for youngsters. Cllr Mike Fairchild, chairman of the parish council, said: “The playground is a good example of the main aim of the parish plan, to build a stronger sense of community spirit."

Fun on the Roundabout

He paid tribute to members of the parish plan committee who developed the plan and organised fund-raising activities. He thanked Biffaward for its generous grant that made the re-equipping of the playground possible, and other donors including East Herts Council. He also thanked Rural Action East and the Community Development Agency for Hertfordshire who supported the parish plan from the outset.

The new playground takes the village one step nearer to creating a stronger community centre by linking the playground and the adjoining village hall and running more shared activities. Future plans include improvements to the football pitch that makes up the rest of the site. The smaller playground in nearby Ridgeway was also recently re-equipped with new swings, funded by the parish council as part of the parish plan.

In addition to the generous grant from Biffaward – a multi-million pound fund that uses landfill tax credits to support community projects – funding was provided by East Herts Council, local businesses and individuals and Little Hadham Parish Council.

Martin Bettington, Chairman of Biffaward, said: “Biffaward is delighted to support worthwhile schemes such as this one, which marks a real investment in Little Hadham’s future. A great deal of hard work goes into these projects behind the scenes, and the playground’s success is a credit to all involved.”

Slide and Climbing Frame

A Community Capital Grant from East Herts Council will fund an all-weather surface for the recently installed basketball and soccer shooting wall and pay for other projects to complete the playground regeneration.