A Plea – Playground Protocols

Our 'Letter from a Resident' regarding the Playground and the issues that we raised earlier this week, has had lots of hits and some user feedback which is worth sharing this morning.

Without doubt, the new Playground is a welcome and fantastic asset within the village and many are looking forward to the official opening at ParkFest on 10 September (see Editor's Pick).

However, this state-of-the-art Playground has been designed for children of varying ages and the Playground areas are defined to promote just that – sections devoted to toddlers and sections devoted to older children too. Whilst these areas are not separated by physical lines of demarcation, it is obvious to any user just which areas are devoted to very young children and which to children who are slightly older.

That said, there is a recurrent plea being raised by many parents within the village.

Not only have some of the swings been wrapped around the frames so that they are physically out of reach for some of the younger children, but some older children have not only been observed sitting within the toddler swings, but also sitting on the top of the toddler climbing frame too. Some have actually become a tad territorial, using it as a 'base'. By any stretch of the imagination this is intimidating for very young children and for their parents who are concerned for the safety of their youngsters.

So, we repeat the request that we all enjoy this new facility, that we act in a responsible way, that we have regard for each other and that we take care of this exciting new feature within our village.