Phase 2 of our play park will focus on equipment for younger children and additional inclusive items. We have already raised £65,000, however, the full estimate for the design illustrated below is just over £100,000, so the more we can raise through donations and grants the more we can deliver this year. Evidence of local match-funding is also incredibly helpful in helping us secure our grant funding.
We know many of you (80 of you!) gave generously to our 2023 appeal for Phase 1, so sorry to ask again so soon. However, given our recent funding success, let's see how much we can get over the line this year because we may not get another chance and the more we raise of the next couple of months, the more amazing equipment we can instal. We planted our community orchard in spring 2022 and it was time, this week, for the annual pruning workshop led by local expert, Graham Sullivan. We learnt about how, first, to remove dead or damaged stems and then to think about the structure of each tree. We removed branches that were crossing each other, or growing into the centre of the young trees, and then halved the lenght of last years growth, cutting just above a shoot bud that was pointing in the right direction. Low branches were cut down to one or two buds to encourage the formation of fruiting spurs. So, lots to think about! Thank you so much Graham for a wonderfully informative and well presented workshop! Thank you to Strathpeffer Primary School's 'Community Committee' for helping us expand our park's native woodland. Conditions were a bit chilly but this didn't impact their enthusiasm at all! The kids knew so much about why trees are important; as food for wildlife, to clean the air and help combat the terrible impacts of climate change. What a knowledgable bunch. The trees were donated by the Trust for Conservation Volunteers (TCV)'s I Dig Trees initiative, which is an amazing project that provides native British trees for communities. The TCV would welcome donations via the above link to help them continue to provide this wonderful service. We hope the childrent enjoy watching their trees grow with them in the coming years. Watch this space for more 2024 planting event news.
Play parkWe are getting closer to the first Phase of the play park being installed. The contractors have been on-site, put the safety fence up and are hoping to start work the week commencing 16th October. This phase will deliver three amazing items aimed at 4-14 year-olds, including a six tower mega deck climbing frame, swing unit (including flat swing and inclusive basket swing), and multispinner carousel. How quickly we are able to open the park will depend on a few factors such as a dry weather window to pour the safety surface and availability of volunteers to lay topsoil, turf, and access paths. If you think you could help with the volunteer tasks (barrowing, shovelling, use of trailers, power-barrows etc), please get in touch. Exciting times! We have already started fundraising for Phase II of the play park. This will focus on toddler equipment, a shelter and more inclusive play items. We're busy writing grant applications at the moment and would welcome support from any experienced grant application writers out there. Bike ZoneConstruction of the first phase of our Bike Zone is now complete! However, frequent and ongoing heavy rain means the surface isn't getting chance to dry and seal. The track will, therefore, have to remain closed till we've had a couple of weeks of dry weather, which might not be till the spring now. We know this will be dissapointing to the many people who have told us how excited they are to try it out (we're pretty impatient too!), but it's worth it to ensure the trail doesn't get damaged. Hang in there! Rain, rain, rain and volunteers to the rescueWe had about 80 mm of rain over the weekend of 7th and 8th October. Blocked road drains were not able to cope with the volume of water so flowed over curbs and into the park. Large amount of surface water also ran off the school playing field. As a result we lost about three tonne of material from our lovely path network :( However, thanks to our amazing group of volunteers we have made a great start fixing the damage already. Please bear with us while we complete repairs at the upper end of the park near the bus-stop.
If you would like to join our volunteer WhatsApp group please send us your name and mobile number because we'd love to have you on the team :) Alternatively, if you would like to help towards these ongoing maintenance costs, please consider a one-off or regular donation via our JustGiving page. Great fun had by all celebrating Highlands and Islands Climate Festival.What an amazing afternoon and evening yesterday celebrating the end of the Highlands & Islands Climate Festival Everyone seemed to have fun! Highlights included mini-beast adventures with the Highland Council ranger, traditional meadow management techniques to promote biodiversity, apple tasting from our community orchard, nature quiz and fire-pit social. It was a great opportunity to celebrate how our park is contributing to tackling the climate and nature emergencies.
We would like to thank the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub for funding and support. Celebrating how our park is helping protect nature and climateWe really enjoyed the Strathpeffer Science Festival this weekend! It was a wonderful opportunity to talk about the many things we're doing in the park to help nature and the climate alongside creating an exciting and accessible outdoor community resource.
After an amzaing response to our local fundraising campaign, and support from a number of local businesses, we are delighted to announce the Phase I equipment has been ordered and is due to be installed in October. This equipment has a focus on 4-14 year olds, but should have something for everyone. We are still seeking funding for the landscaping element, which will need to be completed before we can open the play area, so any further donations would be extremely gratefully received. We have also started applying for funding to deliver Phase II, which will focus on equipment for 0-4 year olds and more inclusive play. Thank you to all the amazing people who have made this possible! |
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