Help Barnsley Museums & Heritage Trust give children the chance to explore and discover nature at Cannon Hall Park & Gardens through play, art, and physical activity. With your help, we can create a magical tree sculpture to mark the entrance to a new outdoor wooden play trail, due for completion in summer 2019.
Why we need your help…
Children in Britain spend just 16 minutes a day playing or exploring in parks and other open spaces, according to a detailed study. The figure is an average of time spent outdoors in parks, the countryside, the coast or seaside, includes excursions at weekends as well as weekdays.
The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics, are the first to examine how children spend their free time and will be used to track engagement with the outdoors and sport.
A nature play trail within the grounds at Cannon Hall would provide opportunities for exercise, discovery and new adventures for children and their families visiting Barnsley. The sculpture is the first phase of a two-year building programme to develop an outdoor nature play trail in the grounds of Cannon Hall. Your donations will enable us to turn existing fallen or deadwood standing around the park into new nature play elements for children to enjoy for years to come.The play area will be linked to fairyland and folklore to inspire children to get creative in the outdoors. The Georgian landscape at Cannon Hall has a garden to the east which has been referred to as Fairyland for many years; this is a folly containing medieval structures and ponds which has been enjoyed by thousands of people over the years. To the west, an area in the grounds has been allocated for discovery but it is overgrown. We need your help to put the magic back into this area of the park and continue the Fairyland theme.
Your reward...
We’re offering a special 'behind the scenes' workshop with a local artist at Cannon Hall Park & Gardens. In return for a £20 donation, you can claim two places on the workshop where you will contribute ideas for the sculpture. Places are limited, so hurry!
This workshop will be delivered by Cannon Hall's 'Parks for People' team. Parks for People is a development of major improvements and conservation work around the gardens and park, including the restoration of Cannon Hall's Georgian lakes, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. For more information, please visit the Cannon Hall website.
Everyone who donates and joins our crowdfunding community will be invited to a launch event to unveil the sculpture in the grounds later this year.