Parents lead £50,000 revamp of playground in Barrow

Parents rallied round to organise a £50,000 revamp of a village playground which opened three months ahead of schedule.

After deciding the 12-year-old play area in Barrow ‘no longer served its purpose’, a group of parents secured funding to install new swings, slides, trim trails, a roundabout and zip wire.

Lisa Gleave, chairman of the Barrow Community Play Project, said: “It has been open for a month and the feedback we are getting from parents and the children themselves is amazing. It is very rewarding to see the play area so busy even at this time of year.

“The local community has considered for some time that the existing play equipment required updating and no longer served its purpose.

“We’re very grateful to all our funders. We would also like to thank Barrow cum Denham Parish Council and the village management committee for their support.”

The project received £10,000 from St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s rural initiative grant scheme, £7,000 from Havebury Housing Partnership and £1,500 from Cllr Ian Houlder’s locality budget. Other contributors included The Suffolk Foundation and County Cllr Terry Clements.