The playground in Ilkley's Riverside Park is scheduled to re-open from Friday in time for the Easter school holidays.
With phase one of the new design now installed, the playground in Ilkley’s Riverside Park is scheduled to re-open from Friday 8 April, while fundraising continues for phase two.
The new toddler play zone, natural play area, swings, accessible roundabout and multi-seesaw are all installed ready for lots of Easter outdoor playtime. Younger children will find a new sensory play space, and the new ‘spicas’ and ‘we-hoppers’ are a great improvement on the old spring-rockers.
For older kids, there’s two new racing zip-wires and a brand new agility trail to offer plenty of excitement, balancing and adventure too.
This new development in the park is a great improvement on the previous playground facilities and a fantastic play space for local children, as well as families who visit the town and it’s park.
Pauline Munro, deputy Chair of the Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks comments; ‘We are delighted to see the phase one works have now been completed by Kompan. However, the play area still lacks play equipment for older children and we are now fundraising for two additional pieces of kit to really make the play area a great place to play for local children of all ages.’
Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks are fundraising to add a giant new ‘WharfeWave’ rope swing and a fantastic new ‘Ilkley Moor Climb’ tower to the playground. These two pieces of play equipment will offer more varied play opportunities for older children, which the playground currently lacks, however together with all the necessary groundworks they cost nearly £80,000 excluding VAT.
With generous donations from individuals, local groups and businesses, the fundraising efforts have raised nearly half the amount needed to complete the phase 2 work. Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks have been delighted with the response so far from those whom have offered to sponsor this important initiative.
Joel Sendrowski of Elite Accountancy in Ilkley explains why it is important to his business to contribute; ‘We are an Ilkley business, and I grew up in the area and know the park well. I remember playing in the playground here and just wanted to give something back to the local community by helping to give the playground a new lease of life for the local children who play there now.
A substantial amount is still required to enable the outstanding pieces of equipment to be installed at the playground and Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks are currently seeking sponsorship support to raise the remaining funds. If you or your business can contribute anything from £1,000 to £10,000 please get in touch.
Sponsors can expect several benefits such as logos on permanent signage at the playground, social media acknowledgements, media coverage, and for contributions over £5,000 you will be part of the ribbon-cutting event when the new playground is finally completed later this year.
For more details visit https://www.friends-of-ilkley-riverside-parks.com to download a sponsorship pack, or email foirp2@gmail.com and one of the team will get back to you.
Individuals can also donate via JustGiving at www.justgiving.com/foirpuk or by text (max £20 donation, send the word PARKS to 70085) you’ll find full details on the ‘donations’ page of the Friends of Ilkley Riverside Parks website.
