Brand new look for village play park
Chapelton Bowling Club and the local community council officially opened the new play park at the centre of the village.
After four years of meetings and hard work, Avondale councillor Margaret Cooper was welcomed by the groups to open the new park.
Contributions to the fund were received from many sources including the Chapelton Inn, the ‘Ladies who lunch’, Scotwest Credit Union, and Lynn Mills.
Many people were involved in achieving this outcome and thanks go to Mel Millar and his team at South Lanarkshire Council who organised the funding for this project.
The funding was raised from three main sources: the Renewable Energy Fund, Viridor Credits and South Lanarkshire Council.
Ian Ferguson, community council chair, said: “Jo Gillies and her team at South Lanarkshire Council worked very hard to bring this project in on record time.
“Without her hard work and dedication we would have lost our funding due to time constraints.
“On behalf of myself and my fellow community councillors Alastair Campbell, Beth Sadler, Dave Fish, Gavin Lennox and Jim Johnson, we would like to recognise the work done by, and thank our colleague Derek Riddell.
“He arranged all the initial meetings in order to get things moving, asked all of the right questions and kept the momentum going throughout the entire project.
“This project would never have been started without the help Councillor Margaret Cooper. We would still be years away from opening our park.
“Due to her comprehensive knowledge she was able to tell us who to approach to source funding and she arranged the design of the play park.
“When problems arose she was always there with a solution and advice.
Following the opening, Councillor Cooper added: “It has been a privilege to work with Chapelton Community Council on this important asset to village facilities and I was honoured to be asked to declare the park open.”