It's starting to feel like autumn, but the wildflower meadow is still a splash of summer colour.

You won't see it from the road, so take a walk through the woodland gate (and maybe sit with a flask on the picnic benches) and soak up the summer for a few more weeks...

BOO!!!!!!
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we have plans afoot for a Halloween Celebration in the Play Park. Keep your eyes open for more information.

Playpark in bloom

A little later than we would have liked, but the pictoral meadow seed mix is a real show at the park. Go and have a look!

The theory works!!

Although we've had problems with the canines, we are pleased to announce that the cat poo myth is being proved wrong!!

Mia's design research was extensive and she has proved that providing a sandpit is over a certain square meterage, cats would not cause us a problem. We are now entering the fourth month of the sandpit and nothing to report....

This part of the play park has been really popular and we hope you agree that the play value of sand far outweighs any maintenance issues.

Please remember!

We found evidence of irresponsible dog ownership at the park last night (and that really stinks if you get it on your shoes). No dogs on the play park please!

If you build it, they will come....

The play park was buzzing again today! Families from Ixworth and Elmswell had travelled especially to use the facilities. There were plenty of Walsham kids and families too. The picnic area is a lovely place to meet friends, rest with a flask of tea and watch the entertainment on the swing!





-- Post From My iPhone

The official opening!

Walsham gardens weekend officially closed an hour ago and Walsham play park had more visitors in those two days than the site must have seen in the last two years!!

The swing was a big hit with the kids.......

and the babies!! We're so glad that the pieces of equipment are proving to be versatile and accessible to all age groups.

Lots more photos of the opening weekend will be posted soon.

Keep watching!!

Remember - no bikes on the play park - please keep them at the Skateboard end so the grass can grow and small children can run safely between equipment.

Also, no dogs!

Working towards the big reveal

With all the major installations complete, the contractors are now working on the finishing touches to the play park. Clarkes of Walsham stepped in again to help us out with the signs which will welcome you as you come in.

WOW!

You lot should be really proud of these finished artworks, they are fantastic!

Art in the sun!

Wow what an amazing weekend for the Urban Art workshop. We had seven young people turn out on Friday for a workshop where they sketched ideas for painting the skate ramps. On Saturday with a little help from Graham Meads to get them started, they put down the bulk of their paintings using a variety of vivid spray paints.
On Sunday some extra kids joined in to help paint the smaller ramp with a tribal design.

All in all it was a huge sucess and we now have a fantastic Art Installation created by local teens in our Skate Park.














If you get a chance you should take a trip to the playground to see the finished Art Work. It is truly stunning.

Thanks to Ollie, Kayleigh, Kenzie, Leah, Leon, Lauren and James for taking part in the workshop and leaving us with these fantastic art pieces that can be enjoyed by everyone visiting the Park. Thanks also to Graham Meads for an inspirational 3 days.

Amended dates for the Art Workshop

The dates for the workshop by Urban Artist Graham Mead are now
Friday 21st August - 10am to 3pm
Saturday 22nd August - 10am to 4.30pm
Sunday 23rd August - 10am - 4.30pm

there are still a few places left so call Mel on 07922257528 to book your place

If you go down to the woods today......

The works in the playground area are now nearing completion. The temporary fencing has been installed by the entranceway (Optimum planting for new hedging is Autumn so we are waiting until then to plant)and access from the road is now nice and pushchair/wheelchair friendly, as well as being more visible to car users.

This week Chris and his team will be starting work on the woodland area. A raised platfrom of eco decking will create access from the new woodland entrance through to the playground (with a little bit of detour for the little ones to follow.

Can you believe that opening is less than 2 weeks away!

Don't miss out!

We have filled half the Urban Art workshop places already! If you don't want to be disappointed, make sure you get your name on the list by calling Kate Daly (258088) or seeing one of the Play Council committee members. Chances like this don't come around very often!

(see post 3rd August for full details)

Must point out!

Take a look at the fourth picture in the previous post and you will see a carpet of green. These are the wild flowers and boy have they benefitted from this peculiar alternation of rain and sunny spells.

Jody's on the case

The overnight drop in temperature has helped Jody and the boys. Not that the heat slowed them down.

The safety matting is being installed under the play equipment. The grass will grow through this, so it will be practically invisible, but it'll give a soft landing for a jump off the nets.
The slide had to be installed at a crucial angle to ensure a thrilling ride! The mound will be made up to accommodate the steeper incline.
...and the picnic benches are looking great. The bark is waiting to be spread and then that's the seating area complete.

Full steam ahead!

The contractors are back on site this week after two weeks away. The small mound has been graded and seeded and the slide set.

The big slide was put together today and you can see them digging the foundations for it so it can be installed on the mound.

Fantastic opportunity for budding young artists

Walsham Play Council has secured three days of workshops by Urban Artist Graham Meads from Creative Space International.

For all you old fogeys out there, urban art is a long way away from the 'tag' days of graffiti. Take a look at these;

This is work that Graham has done with community groups and schools to brighten grey walls and create a sense of space ownership for our young people.

We have 10 places for teenagers (13-18yrs) who would be excited by the opportunity of working with an artist over three days (20th, 21st and 22nd August) to create our very own piece of Walsham art at the Skatepark.

All those who are interested should put their name forward to Kate Daly (258088) for consideration. Places are limited and subject to certain conditions.

Don't delay!

You can't rush nature

A site inspection today has confirmed we have a green tinge on the wildflower meadow! The seeds have appreciated the rain and are starting to show in patches. Let's hope another month before opening will give them time to really have an impact.

Contractors are back on site next week to start the final push towards completion......watch this space.

Showtime

Mulberry Tree Gardens open their show garden at Sandringham Show today.

Their garden is in aid of Action for Heroes (both of them are ex forces) and they even have a Red Arrows flypast!!!........clearly they are well connected....(now that's an idea. I wonder if their people could speak to our people.........)

We wish Jody and Chris good luck for the judging today!

FREE Drop in and Play Sessions!!

With the Playground out of action during the school holidays we have arranged three FREE Drop in and Play Sessions. These will take place at Walsham Primary School on;

Tuesday 4th August 10am - 12pm
Wednesday 5th August 10am - 12pm
Thursday 6th August 10am - 12pm

These events coincide with National Playday an annual event with the theme this year 'Make Time to Play'. This theme will carry across to our GRAND OPENING of the playground, which will be a fantastic family fun day out. Please see menu to the right for events planned.

Busy planning...

The committee are busy planning a weekend of celebrations for the Playground opening.
The opening is a National playday event, which celebrates and encourages play. The theme for this years annual event is 'make time to play' How do you make time for play?

A really wet day

The concrete delivery had to be called off today because the lorry would've chewed up the entrance which is looking boggy with all the rain. The monster swing needs some heavy foundations to cope with 8 kids giving it some!

The small slide was lifted into position on the back of the small mound. This new orientation has cleared a potential bottleneck at the entrance to the tunnel and exit of the slide making it safer and encouraging kids to explore the 'ditch'.

Best laid plans

The edging posts arrived on site the other day. They were a little larger than we had anticipated, so Mia had to do a quick 'redesign'

..and the boys started putting her plan into action. It's looking great! Kids (and adults) will be able to run through these posts from grass to meadowland, balance on them, or use them as a seat. We're sure the kids will think of plenty more ways to incorporate them into their playground games.

The Sand debate

All current research is big on the advantages of 'natural play' - indeed that is why there is grant money available for creating opportunities in our communities for children to play in natural environments.

This is taken from a Play England website;

"Sand, water, boulders and fallen trees are all great things to leave about to stimulate play in a park or school playground. I have heard apparently sane people give the opinion that sand is dangerous for children, they are simply wrong. The beach is one of the finest natural play environments, just build a sand-boat to sit in when the tide comes in, or add a small stream flowing across it to be dammed up, and I could play all day."

Children know what is interesting when they see it. (Pyle 2002)

RoSPA states the following on their website:
'Sand is one of the most popular - and developmentally appropriate - pieces of equipment which can be provided on a children’s playground. It provides:
opportunities for creative and construction play
opportunities for fine-tuning physical movements'

RoSPA recommends that 'wherever possible the sandpit should be an odd or irregular shape to offer a range of spaces within the area to allow for quiet secluded areas for individual play. Small platforms for putting things on (for example, sandcastles) can be provided'.
In our new playground the boulders in the sand pit will act as small tables and/or seats to enhance children's overall play experience.

The sand we are using in our new playground is fine rounded play sand and complies to BS5665. Sand is by its very nature non slippery. The main risk associated with sand and sand play is if children get it in their eyes therefore children should be actively discouraged by their carers to throw sand. Sand, pebbles and boulders can be found in nature and children have enjoyed playing in these environments for many years and we are delighted that we are able to recreate this environment in our new playground.

Please look at the following link for examples of other playgrounds where sand has successfully been included in public play spaces
www.playengland.org.uk/resources/design-for-play-introduction.pdf

The fencing at the entrance

To enable us to create a much safer entrance to the playground we had to remove a large section of hedging. This will allow us to make a wider entrance which will be set further back from the road. We are going to reinstate the hedging where the old entrance was and also along most of the length of the new entrance. Unfortunately July is not a good time to plant hedging so in the interim we are fencing the playground in with chestnut pale fencing, which many of you may have seen on the site. We realise that this is not a hugely 'sturdy' construction, but, it is a cost effective and temporary solution that still allows a barrier to stop the children being able to run straight out onto the road. The native hedging will grow up through and around this fencing in the autumn.

Jungle drums....

The Walsham jungle drums did us proud this evening. David Moore had this wagon show up with our playground swing from Germany at 7.00pm, long after the contractors had gone home. David rang Kate (who didn't know WHAT to do) and then he rang a man who did.

R&D jumped to our rescue and sent up a fork lift to get the enormous bit of kit off. David is storing it until the morning when R&D can get it down to the playground for us.

Big thank you to David and to R&D for the rescue package. VERY much appreciated!

Legend has it...

.....that dinosaurs lived in Walsham millions of years ago.

Excavations in the playground have uncovered exciting new evidence.

Fossilized footprints

Ammonite fossils

and what are rumored to be dinosaur eggs...?

When the playground opens, will you be able to find them?

The playground roadshow!

We want to continue to keep people informed of the project,hence this Blog and also 'The Playground Roadshow'. Pictured is our publicty stand which we took along to the Walsham Primary School summer fete. This week we have visited the local toddler group with it and also the village post office and coffee shop.

Testing the tunnel

Playbuilder site visit

We met up with Denise Causier and Peta Jones from SCC who are working with us on behalf of the Playbuilder scheme. The site visit was very positive with Denise and Peta commenting on how well the scheme is coming together. Peta is organising the FREE drop in play sessions that we are providing at Walsham Primary School on the 5th and 6th August this year.

and today we are mostly....

surveying the site in preparation for the installation of the climbing nets and swinger in the coming weeks.


and digging very deep and very big holes!!

Thankyou....

to Clarkes of Walsham Limited Tel 01359 259 259 for their unbeatable support for our build. Collecting random fallen trees, supplying materials (sometimes at short notice) and for being all round good sports!

Who's coming?!!

Chris hears that the Primary School children are coming to visit!

The tunnel that will be buried in the small mound

Craig digs out the mound in preparation

The fallen trees are placed in the small mound.

Latest progress

The final shaping of the sandpit and placing of the boulders. Ready for play sand!

The Sandpit takes shape. The second wetpour was completed on Monday 6th July and the edging is now in place.