Full News Report
29th December 2024
New Year opening for Morval Parish play park
FATHER Christmas didn’t quite make it to Morval Parish with a gift-wrapped playground for young people to enjoy… but the Farriers Way play park should be resonating with the sound of excitement and enjoyment by the end of January.
Bad weather has blown the contractors’ plans slightly off course but the £180,000 play area – financed principally with a £120,000 grant from Cornwall Council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (an offshoot of the Government’s £7.6-million Community ‘Levelling Up’ purse) – is fast taking shape.
Richard Liddle, of the award-winning Lydcott Farm glamping business in Widegates, was instrumental in helping the Parish Council get the long-awaited project over the line and more recently he has been acting as the Council’s de facto works manager.
In a briefing note shortly before the Christmas break he reported that all swing frames and the zipline frames were built and foundation holes had been dug in preparation for the concrete anchors on the 800-sq.m site.
The toddler unit was 75 per cent complete and the big tower base area had been dug out and reinforcing mesh anchored in place ready for concrete pouring. Pathway kerb-stones had also arrived and were ready to install.
Once all the play equipment has been installed, including the grass matting and turf, the wetpour rubber safety surfacing areas will need to be put in place. Wetpour rubber safety surface needs ideally two or three dry days to lay and then takes three days to fully cure, so it is now envisaged that the contractors will not be able to hand back the site to the Parish Council before the end of January.
The play park would probably never materialised, however, without either the Government grant or the willing co-operation and support of the landowners, the Harding family, of Trebrownbridge, who have always wanted to leave an indelible mark on the community their family has served so staunchly down the years.
In due course, the Parish Council will be giving some thought to landscaping and planting-out the area; an official opening ceremony and also choosing a name for the area.
Once operational a ‘Focus Group’ involving both councillors and members of the general public will oversee the general running and well-being of the park.
Basically, it will take the form of a ‘Friends of…’ so that the play area’s effectiveness is maintained.
The council, under current chairman, Cllr Andy Jackson, will be establishing this ‘management’ body but now is the time for anyone to express an interest in guiding the facility in the years ahead.
Council chairman Cllr Jackson urges anyone interested in joining the ‘Focus Group’ to e-mail: clerk@morvalparishcouncil.org.uk
Any thoughts about landscaping; a name for the play park and suggestions about what form an opening ceremony could take, will also be much appreciated.
