A new, truly bespoke, best-in-class, inclusive and accessible sports and play facility, using revolutionary equipment known as Numuga, designed and inspired by local children.

Check out this short video to hear from me (Danny) and some of the local children on why we are pursuing this ambitious plan to deliver on our community's promise to our children. 

Over the last two years we have carried out numerous surveys, presented in assemblies at our local primary school and pre-school and arranged local gatherings for older children of secondary school age and the community more widely. The message was clear and consistent. They wanted something new and exciting, something different from your run-of-the-mill-play area equipment, somewhere safe and welcoming to meet and play with their friends and family and something they could shape. In May 2023, we landed on Numuga and in the following months the children were able to create their dream sport and play zone.

If you like what you hear, please read on to understand all the work that has been done over the last two years to get us to this point, who we are and more about Numuga...

Who are we?

I'm Danny. I'm a father of two young boys and a trustee of our local playing fields, a charity incorporated by the Charity Commission (#1079873). As a group of trustees, we represent a number of sports clubs and other connected village organisations, and work together to manage and maintain the community playing fields in our village. 

We meet regularly and play an active role in ensuring our community is a vibrant and enjoyable place to live, work and play. The playing fields hosts a number of regular annual events, most notably the 'Stoke Stampede' - a 10km road race run under a UK Athletics licence that has been held annually since 1984 and attracts over 500 runners, spectators and dozens of volunteers from within the community.

I am working with the wider trustees and our whole community to deliver Project Play. As a community, we have a strong track record of successfully implementing major community projects. In recent years these have included an allotment and community orchard, a new sports pavilion, and not least a community owned shop, café and pub.

When complete, the Numuga zone will be managed by the Playing Field Trustees.

The question you're all asking...what the heck is Numuga?!

Well...with Numuga, there are no cages, just open and approachable spaces to play inside and outside of the zone. By taking down the cage associated with a traditional MUGA (multi-use games area), we can create an open plan space that is fun and inviting, rather than elite and intimidating. Our zone will provide the opportunity to play on 19 pieces of equipment across 480 sq m.

There is currently only one such facility in the UK. Check out this video to see the first zone of its kind in use by children and adults of all age.

The Numuga facility will be free to access. It can be used at almost any time, by anyone, all year round. The space we create will be inviting for people of all ages and abilities. We hope it will become a real community hub of activity for families in particular, strengthening the connection between sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing.

It can be used by local clubs across a huge range of sports to both introduce new people to those sports and train them. A number of community groups are keen to use the space, including yoga, pilates, and HIIT groups. The only limit to how this facility could be used for sports and play is the imagination of the user.

Anyway, that's enough from me. Who better to explain the concept of Numuga than its founder, Chris Moore...

In really simple terms, we want this project to make people smile, to bring joy and allow people to live more fulfilled lives through participation in physical activity and sport. 

We firmly believe that this zone will harness the power of sport and physical activity to improve people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, from the children who have designed it, to older generations.  

Our motivation

This project is not just ‘an idea’. It is the fulfilment of a promise, made through the delivery of the community led Stoke St Gregory Community Plan 2023. The Plan, which was preparing following extensive engagement within the community, set a clear objective and evidence base to deliver new facilities for younger people.

Our motivation focuses on a number of key areas:

• Bringing our community together - Our community has driven this project and the younger people in particular have shaped its design. This project would not exist without the longstanding, meaningful and effective engagement we have undertaken. By enabling our community to take ownership of this project, we are confident that it will leave a legacy of lasting change, which will bring our neighbourhood together in a new way and provide fantastic opportunities for everyone to stay active and, ultimately be happier.
• Creating positive and fulfilling experiences for our children and young people - Project Play will deliver true empowerment for local children. Through the Project Play consultation process, they have made their needs and expectations clear. The facility has been designed with their voices being heard, giving them ownership of the project. The hope is that this will engender a sense of pride, respect and achievement for them in the delivery of the final facility.
• Improving our community’s health and wellbeing – The space we create will be inviting for people of all ages and abilities. We hope it will become a real community hub of activity for families in particular, thereby strengthening the connection between sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing. Local people of all ages will help landscape the zone and wider site, in consultation with our active local environmental group, who are actively involved in this project and fully endorse it’s delivery.

Where will the money go and what if we don’t hit our target?

The total cost of this project £94,873.43. To date, we have already secured £50,876 from a range of funders including Sport England who have asked us to match fund their donation (£15,000) via this crowdfunding campaign.

We are constantly approaching new funders and will do so until this project is delivered.

The money we raise here through your kind donations will go towards the purchase of the Numuga equipment (£49,869).

In a worst case scenario where we are unable to raise the necessary funds to deliver the full play zone, as designed by the children in our community, we have the ability to build it out in phases as Numuga is a modular system. This ensures that we can still deliver something significant and truly meaningful and transformational for the community within a definite short-term timescale (Spring 2025) and then complete the zone as soon as the remaining funds are in place.

How you can play your part:

There are a number of simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is the key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us to raise the required funds to buy the necessary equipment to make our children's dreams a reality. The more people we reach the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Please support us in any way you can, no matter how small, so we can deliver this revolutionary new space for our children. If you have any questions, we always up for a chat.

Email: [email protected]

Thank you.