As many of you are aware, Bere Regis Play Park is in need of replacement. The existing play park was installed in 2013 and cost £42,000. Much of this was covered by grants, but the village raised nearly £4,000 through holding various events. All of the original play equipment was bespoke made of wood, which, 13 years on and despite on-going repairs, has slowly rotted and much has had to be removed for safety reasons. It was decided that we need to look at a new play area, but costs have increased considerably since then. So has the variety of equipment available.

To this end, Councillors Kevin Hazell and Sam Bardwell have taken on the task to review the current park and replace it with a new park.

The aim of the new play park will be to foster challenge, adventure, co-operation and communication, building physical and mental confidence for children up to about 12/13 years of age. It will also promote social mixing amongst older age groups within the village i.e. siblings, parents and grandparents.

If we are to upgrade and replace the play park, with one that lasts more than 25 years, we will need to raise approximately £200,000. The Parish Council has set aside £33,000 over the past years to act as match funding.

The Councillors have visited several play parks, consulted with other Parish Councils and engaged with a number of prospective suppliers, (who have all visited the site). We have had initial plans drawn up by a local company who has built a number of parks in our area. These will be available to be viewed on the Parish Council web page soon. It is by no means the finished article, but more an initial idea to demonstrate what may be achieved for our children. This will be the starting point for the children, parents, Bere Regis residents and any other interested parties to contribute ideas, to create the actual play park.

To succeed in getting the play park that Bere Regis children deserve, we will all need to help out in raising the money, be it helping at events, setting up events, offering ideas to raise money or finding sponsors who will contribute to the whole park funding or focus on sponsoring a specific piece of equipment.

We will be setting up a fund-raising committee in the near future – if you are interested please let us know and we will add you to the list for the first meeting.

We as a village have achieved this before and can do it again. Time is of the essence – the quicker we get going, the sooner we will have the park.

Please feel free to contact Cllr Kevin Hazell by email – k.hazell@bereregisparishcouncil.gov.uk – if you have any questions, ways to help or would like to get involved in any way.

To start the process, we will be setting up a Crowd Funding page for donations – this will be made available soon on the Parish Council Facebook page. Please take a moment to look at this site and see what we could have for our youngsters and take a moment to share with as many people as possible, both in our community and wider, to make them aware of what we are trying to achieve and to help raise the funds needed.

Any contribution is both valued and appreciated.