As you may have seen, the play area at Portswood Rec has recently had two large pieces of equipment removed. This has created a big empty space and left users, particularly older children, with very limited equipment to use. The Friends of Portswood Rec group have been working hard behind the scenes to find ways to secure new replacement equipment.

Through meeting with play equipment suppliers, we have an estimate of £70,000 to put in two new pieces of equipment (initial proposed design photos below) that would include the most popular requests from our recent survey. Eye-wateringly expensive yes, but unfortunately this is the reality of the cost of play park equipment. It has been made clear to us that securing full funding from the local council will not happen, but, desperate to keep our wonderful park as lively as ever, we are determined to find a way. So we are currently in the process of applying for funding grants from other avenues.

One of these is via a Landfill Communities Fund grant. There are certain parameters that we have to meet in order to apply for this grant and one of those is to show that we have 10% of the whole project cost as seed funding, so £7,000. This is where we are asking for your help.

Friends of Portwood Rec will contribute some from existing funds we have. However, we are turning to the local community to try and fundraise a further £2,500 to help us get closer to the seed funding target.

If you are reading this, it is safe to assume you've visited Portswood Rec and made good use of the play area. If you haven't then local families are lucky to have this little gem within the community, full of beautiful old trees and far away enough from busy roads to feel safe and clean. It sits directly next to Portswood Primary School and, after school, the children spill out into the play park and it’s filled with fun and laughter. Unfortunately, it is looking woeful after the equipment was taken down.

Play areas with high-quality, durable playground equipment for children has many benefits. It allows for children to engage in active play, develop physical coordination and strength, and have fun with their peers. We saw during the pandemic how beneficial playgrounds are at providing a place to get outdoors and socialise and how much impact it had when these spaces are taken away. We don't want to leave Portswood Rec with a sub-standard play area.

We know there has been local outcry since the equipment was removed and we are appealing for your helping hands so that local children can benefit from a suitable play area once more.

Many thanks,

Friends of Portswood Rec