The village of Kislingbury is located 4 miles to the west of Northampton in a rural area with a population of around 1,500 and includes many families with young children.
The village playing field, established in the 1970’s and funded by the villagers at that time, is home to football, cricket and bowls clubs and also incorporates a children’s playground used not only by children from Kislingbury, but also from surrounding neighbourhoods.
Although the play equipment has been maintained over the years and has an annual ROSPA safety inspection, much of it dates back to when the playing field was first set up, over 30 years ago, and now needs to be replaced and updated.
Most recently play equipment has broken beyond repair and children can now not use it which is such a shame for them. The ground is very uneven making it hard for young children to walk on and none of the current equipment has proper matting underneath, so during the winter it is unusable as it gets very wet and boggy.
We now want to raise as much money as possible to improve it and provide a better play area for our children.
Unlike most village playing fields, we are not governed or run by the Parish Council, and have to raise our own funds in order to maintain and improve our facilities.
A group of mum's have come together, working with the Charity 'Kislingbury Playing Field Association', to help raise the money needed to make the improvements.
At the end of 2020 we asked the community what they would like to see changed and improved within the playground and we have been working with a playground design company to bring these ideas to life. A copy of our conceptual design is attached.
We are therefore creating this funding page to raise money so that we can bring our ideas to fruition.
Your support is crucial in our efforts to create a playground which can be enjoyed by children of all ages for many years to come, in a safe community environment.
Our target is to raise £120,000 and your donation to help us achieve this would be very much appreciated.
Once we have reached the £120,000 we will be removing all the old equipment and recycling the metal where possible. Next we will be levelling the ground and reseeding. Once the grass is growing we will be providing rubber matting/landing areas for all the equipment to be installed. We will be installing modern equipment suitable for all age groups. Finally we will be improving the wooded areas to make better use of that space, creating a natural play area, improving the fencing so it is more secure and providing bins and more seating for parents and guardians.
Because of Covid this playground is more important than ever to us and our children so we would really like to see it improved.