Imaginations can take flight after upgrade

Fun-filled brighter days are coming for Kirriemuir’s newest generation of pirate chasers at the playpark which remembers the Angus town’s favourite fairytale son.

When the miserable weather and the Covid-19 troubles lift, young visitors to the Neverland playpark on Kirrie Hill can look forward to letting their imagination run riot on new equipment, after a successful fundraising campaign spearheaded by a local authority on Peter Pan creator, JM Barrie.

Historian Sandra Affleck kickstarted the £4,000 campaign – which bought two spinning bowls and a hammock – in memory of her husband, David, who died in 2018.

And she hopes the pirate ship-themed park – opened in 2010 as part of a project marking the 150th anniversary of Kirrie-born Barrie – will continue to serve as tribute to the author and her teacher husband’s lifelong commitment to inspiring the town’s young people.

Glasgow-born Mr Affleck taught in Brechin and Montrose before becoming the first head of Kirrie’s Southmuir primary school in 1973 and then the new Northmuir primary in 1977.

He retired in 1995 and was actively involved in many aspects of local life, including supporting his wife’s work to promote Barrie, which has led her to pen several books on the playwright and novelist.

Sandra said: “The

Neverland park has hit the button with youngsters from the time it was created and I felt I wanted to try to do something following David’s death.

“Children just make a beeline for it, it is such a great attraction.

“One of the things I remember being said at David’s funeral was by someone whose love of reading had come from Mr

Affleck reading to them in school.

“He read what he considered to be stimulating books and it’s great to see the Neverland park continuing to stimulate the imagination of our children.

“I like that we can continue to commemorate a person like Barrie with something which people can enjoy and benefit from

and I know David would be 100% behind the idea.”

Sandra’s fundraising was supported by Mark Guild of Guild Homes, Stewart McFarlane of William Lyall Funeral Directors, the Kirriemuir Regeneration Group and Angus Council.

An Angus Council spokesperson said the fundraising had been a “fantastic” local effort.

‘FANTASTIC’: Sandra Affleck raised £4,000 for Neverland. Picture by Mhairi Edwards.