Finstock playground and bike track

Finstock Playground

The village playground was built in March 2005. The project cost £60,000, took two years to plan and two weeks to build. We imported 32.5 tonnes of wood and Trex (plastic wood mix), removed 300 cubic metres of earth, installed 30 cubic metres of gravel, 250 cubic metres of (Kushyfall) woodchip (that is three articulated lorry loads), over a hundred people on site some days and provided over a thousand meals. All on an inaccessible site of 7,500 sq ft, behind a school, in a small village in Oxfordshire.

The volunteers had come from just about every one of the 400 homes there are in the village, as well as friends, relations, and curious people from surrounding villages. The project featured on both news channels and the local radio station at least twice during the build, and the Lord Lieutenant did the honours and cut the ribbon.

The previous “adventure playground” was built using money raised from within the village in 1991. It was during the inspection in 2002 that serious doubts about the long term future of the area were raised by ROSPA and the Oxfordshire playing field association. Following this a decision was taken to use the profit from a village party to rebuild our playground.

We spoke to four different suppliers of playground equipment, who could all provide play equipment similar to that suggested during the design day, but the equipment cost, and subsequent labour costs would have meant that we would get a lot less. We therefore engaged the services of an American company, Leathers & Associates who specialise in building playgrounds using the community to design and make it. The innovative approach of building it as a community project was decided upon as a way of involving everyone, but also as a vehicle to ensure we met as many of the needs expressed as possible.

Our community build scheme was as far as we are aware, a first in this country. Whilst some communities have built some play equipment they have not done this in conjunction with a professional company. Leathers & Associates had done this many times in the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and at USAF bases around the world. They do not just put up play equipment, but build an integrated play area using local ideas and labour. This not only meant we got what we wanted as opposed to what a company made, but it also encouraged a sense of local ownership and achievement.

The design process was carried out by inviting everybody to visit the school during a day in June 2004 and discuss their ideas with the designers. This successful event not only produced the draft design but brought the subject to the surface as a serious event. Over the next few months applications were made for funding, and a project plan was created which covered all aspects from who would dismantle the old equipment, to where we would obtain the food to feed the build team.

We proved not only that it could be done, but done to professional standards in a very short space of time. People “own” the area, and look after it. There is very little rubbish, no deliberate damage, and anybody being daft is soon told “clear off, WE built this”.

What we have is an amazing play area, which everybody helped to build, the community own, and people come from miles around to see and play.  The playground has been built to a combination of European, and US standards, whichever was the high specification. RoSPA inspectors have described as “excellent play area with terrific play value and good play opportunities”.

The parish council are the legal custodians of the site and are responsible for replacing the bark chippings each year, repairing the fences and gates, arranging the annual inspection, insurance and ensuring the grass is cut.

We have managed to involve every demographic layer within the village, from the youngest school child offering their ideas for the design and moving woodchip, to the oldest grandparent carving the names on the wooden fence we built around the playground.

We had said there was a job for everyone, and so it was. The company we used as our designers and overseers had advised that this would be the case, and ensured whoever turned up was found a useful job, learnt a skill if they wanted, and rarely worked alone. Their experience in this area was evident, the playground speaks for itself.

The playground was funded with grants from:

• Finstock Parish Council
• Awards for All (lottery)
• Leader Plus (European commission)
• TOE

Click Here to go to Maintenance Day, 5th May 2007

Finstock Bike Track

The bike track was built in Spring 2005, at the same time as the playground. Young People in the village attended a Parish Council meeting to request the space and to discuss the track design...

A Table Tennis Table

It has been suggested that we buy an outdoor table tennis table, to be installed in the playground.

Picket Fences

Many people in the village have sponsored a picket fence and have their names on the playground boundary fence. Picket fences continue to be ‘sold’ at village events, with half the proceeds going to the event organisers and half to the Finstock Community Projects. £65 was given to the Friends of Finstock School following the school fete in June 2007.