‘We built a playground for our grandaughter’
Possibly the best grandparents in the world? That’s what Poppy, five, thinks!
‘ Is that all there is, Nanny?’
Our granddaughter Poppy’s face was a picture of dismay, gazing at the so-called playground. It was awful – just a couple of rusty old swings, caked in what looked like decades of bird poo.
When I married my husband Brian in 2001, we already had four children from previous relationships, between us.
In recent years, we’ve been blessed with six grandchildren. We love spending time with all of them. But our most frequent visitor is Poppy, now four, whose mum is my daughter Shauni, 27. Shauni’s a single mum, so Poppy comes to stay with us most weekends.
Now Brian and me had moved to East Studdal in Kent – a quiet village community where people were welcoming and friendly. But the first time we took our grandaughter to the village recreation ground, she was so disappointed! She normally loves the swings, but there was no way any child would want to sit on those nasty ones.
Looking at her glum little face, I couldn’t bear it. ‘There’s nowhere for me to play!’ she wailed.
Before I could stop myself, I blurted out: ‘Never mind, Poppy. Nanny will build you a new playground.’
Back home again with Brian, my heart was in my boots. I’d made a promise to our grandchild and obviously that couldn’t be broken. But I hadn’t thought it through and didn’t know whether it was even possible. How on earth was I going to make my promise come true?
I work in a housing office and Brian, 66, is an environmental health officer.
We asked around to find out that the recreation ground was owned and managed by our local Sutton By Dover Parish Council.
We contacted the parish clerk, who was very helpful.
In September 2019, Brian and I attended a parish council meeting, to officially ask if they could put in a proper children’s playground.
But while councillors agreed that new equipment was definitely needed, they said they didn’t have the funds to do the work.
And then, they threw our request right back at us, saying: ‘ We will have no objections if you wanted to raise the money, yourselves!’
Brian and I went home that night more determined than ever to give Poppy and all the other village children somewhere to play.
We put a message on our village’s Facebook page. East Studdal has only 200 homes and 750 residents, but there are quite a few young families. We were pleased with the response from our new neighbours, many agreeing that a proper park was just what we needed.
Their responses brought home to us how socially isolated our village is – with few local amenities. There is no nursery or playgroup or school. People were telling us that young families living just a few houses apart on the same streets didn’t even know each other, because they had nowhere to meet up!
In October 2019, we started a group we called SPARC (Studdal Park and Recreation Community). It had about 40 members, with a committee of six people. Now we started looking for ways to fund Poppy’s dream playground.
Somebody told us about government funding that was available to create what was known as ‘pocket parks’ in derelict areas. We found out how to apply.
First, we had to do a survey of every home in the village, to demonstrate that most residents were in favour. Then we had to give our group a constitution, open a bank account, and submit a detailed application to the government, including proof that the parish council as the landowner was supporting the playground.
There was quite a lot of work required. The deadline for applications was 24 December 2019 – we just managed to tick all the boxes and put our application in that day!
Then it all went quiet.
‘ Will you build me a park soon?’ Poppy was asking. ‘Erm, we hope so,’ we told her. Finally, in February 2020, we got a reply… our application for pocket park funding had been successful!
We were awarded £25,000, and also were given a couple of small grants from the parish and county council.
Brian and I were over the moon. Now we knew we’d actually be able to make my promise to Poppy come true, and benefit all the parents and children in the village.
With online research, we found a company called Playdale, who manufacture play equipment. They worked with us to come up with an exciting new playground with swings, a slide, adventure trail and a tractor.
By June 2020, the new equipment was installed. But by then, the UK was in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis, and most playgrounds across the country were closed. So SPARC couldn’t hold the opening picnic ceremony we were planning, until the parish council had carried out a risk assessment on how the playground could be safely used with social distancing.
We took Poppy to the park and said: ‘Look what Nanny built for you.’ Even though all the equipment was behind tape and out of bounds for the time being, she was really excited and just couldn’t wait until she could get in there and have fun.
The playground finally opened in July 2020.
In total, it cost £30,000. Brian and I have christened it Poppy’s Park, unofficially.
It has now been handed over to the parish council, who as the landowners are responsible for insurance and maintenance.
Watching Poppy soaring up towards the sky on the new swings, we feel very proud of ourselves. After all, we’re not fundraisers, just an ordinary Nanny and Grandad! But with help from our new friends in the village, we have managed to achieve something special.
Together with fellow SPARC members, Brian and I are resolute that we won’t stop there. We hope to seek further grants of around £20,000 to install equipment for disabled children, and may eventually follow that up with adult exercise equipment.
It will be a lot of work to improve the park further, but we’ve done it once so we know we can do it again.
But I’m going to have to be careful in future – just in case Poppy asks me to build her a theme park next time!
‘With help, we’ve managed to achieve something special’
● Once the coronarvirus is under control, Kim Gibson, 55, and Brian will be raising funds for the park.