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Thank you to everyone who came along to our official Phase 2 play park opening event on a warm and sunny afternoon yesterday. What a fantastic atmosphere and sense of community spirit! Gavin Scott, Chair of the Strathpeffer Residents' Association and Community Park Project thanked the many volunteers, funders, local businesses and supporters who made this second phase of play park possible. He also outlined our plans for the future, including a cycle pump track and technical trail, shelter for teens and parents/carers, and even the possibility of a play park Phase 3 at some point. He particularly recognized the hard work of our community volunteers and the park Committee who spend many hours writing funding applications, managing contracts, litter picking, landscaping, grass cutting and much more. We couldn't have done it without you! Park Committee member Averil Milligan then spoke in more detail of our plans for the exciting extension to the bike area, which we hope to secure funding for and deliver in autumn/winter this year. Maree Todd, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, who has recently become Minister for Drugs & Alcohol Policy and Sport, gave a celebratory speech. As a previous Strathpeffer resident she reflected on the importance of outdoor community play spaces for children and families in the village and celebrated the immense community effort that has made the play park possible. She was also excited to hear about our plans to expand grass-roots cycling facilities in the park, recognising Strathpeffer's rich cycling heritage, including Commonwealth Games and Paralympic Games medalists in recent years. Many thanks to Maree for her inspiring words. Thank you again to everyone who helped make the event itself such a success including the Strathpeffer Guides and Rangers for their fantastic face painting skills, Dexter for cutting all the grass, Averil for making a super selection of sandwiches, Tim and Corrine for baking, Pegs for managing all the invitations, Miranda for officiating the ribbon cutting ceremony, Mac for sprucing up the bike track, Gavin for pushing himself out of his comfort zone with public speaking, Dave for taking photos and, of course, to all the children, parents/carers and supporters who gave the event such a special atmosphere. 
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Following a generous donation from one of our members we were able to add two new apple varieties to our growing orchard this weekend. We planted two 'Red Devil' and two 'Charles Ross' at the eastern corner of the main orchard area. The orchard is becoming a lovely place to sit, especially in the summer months, and it won't be long till we'll get a decent crop of fresh and delicious fruit! See the Orchard page for more details and link to our interactive planting map.
Our volunteers put in an amazing effort over the weekend landscaping and turfing around the Phase 2 play area. Thank you so much to everyone who helped! Due to delays with the equipment installation we will have to keep some of the new grass and soil areas fenced off to prevent them turning into a muddy soup. We hope to open up access to the new play equipment in a few weeks but will have to keep some of the landscaped areas fenced off for a while longer. Please help us by asking your children to keep out of fenced areas. Installation of Phase 2 of the play park is going really well. As you can see below, all of the new equipment bases have been installed and the safety surface has been poured. Full installation of the play items will take place in the next week or so and then we'll need to protect the safety surface edges with soil and turf. How quickly we can do that is weather and volunteer dependent but we hope to do this at the end of November. We'll open Phase 2 as soon as possible but you'll appreciate we need to give the soil and turf chance to settle before it can take the heavy footfall we know it will attract. Meanwhile, Phase 1 will remain open.  Well, that's our order for Phase 2 of the play park confirmed, with installation provisionally scheduled to start in early September We worked hard with the supplier to secure the best possible mix of equipment aimed at our younger children. It includes accessible items, including a wonderful trampoline that can be used by everyone, including wheelchair users. None of this second phase would be possible without your support and generous funding from the Community Regeneration Fund, Foundation Scotland EDF Renewables Corriemoillie Strathpeffer and Contin Community Funds, Scottish Children's Lottery , The Pat Munro Foundation , the Community Benefit HCES ( Allt Dearg) fund (Strathpeffer and Contin allocation), RSE , @strathpetal, and all your personal donations. THANK YOU! Donations are still welcomed and essential to help us put the finishing touches to the play park, e.g., benches and landscaping. You can donate at anytime, either directly, or via our JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/strathpeffercommunitypark What an amazing turnout for the official opening of Phase 1 of the play park and bike zone on Sunday. Thanks to all who helped us celebrate, in person or otherwise. Well done to all the young riders who took part in the Strathpeffer Community Park Bike Club event yesterday. There were some great efforts and determined faces on the course. Thanks to the Ben Wyvis Cycle Club marshals and Averil Milligan for organising it. Oh, and the BWCC, Highland Trail Riders and Dutchess of Westminster funded bike track was put through its paces as well. At last! We're so pleased to be able to announce that we opened the Phase I play park gates this week. To celebrate the event all the Strathpeffer Primary School children came to try it out for their Fresh Air Friday activity. There was unanimous approval We hope everyone enjoys and cares for it for many years to come. We aren't stopping here though, oh no! We need equipment for our younger children/ grandchildren. We're well on the way to delivery later this year but urgently need your help. Please consider donation to our Phase 2 funding appeal and share far and wide! https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/strathpefferplay2  |
