Dream comes true for families who set out seven years ago to modernise a Preston park’s play area

Charity funding of more than £34,000 has been raised by the Friends of Conway Park in Fulwood to complete the final phase of the project.

Preston Council has run a tendering exercise on the residents' behalf and found a contractor to carry out the work. And the authority's Parks and Streetscene team will provide project management and landscape design support to get the job done. The council's cabinet will be asked on Wednesday to authorise the scheme and work could begin within weeks.

The Friends of Conway Park - home to Preston's largest junior football club Cadley FC - launched their ambitious scheme in 2015 and urged as many residents as possible to join in fundraising. At the time the play area in the park was described as "old and tired and in need of modernisation."

Phase One of the project was completed in September 2020 after £46,000 was raised to replace half of the equipment, drain and resurface the play area, clear access paths, plant trees and install new benches.Now the money needed to complete the scheme has been raised from numerous charities including the Dulverton Trust, the Shephard Street Trust, the Harris Trust and the Harold and Alice Bridges Charity.

A tender of £24,376 has been accepted from Landscape Engineering for the groundworks and installation of the new play equipment. A further £9,925 has been allocated for Preston Council to buy the play equipment direct from a supplier. The council will be accountable for the scheme and will pay the ongoing maintenance costs of the play area.

According to a report to be presented to the cabinet on Wednesday, Phase One of the scheme provided four new items of play equipment. Phase Two will include three new spinners and a new accessible roundabout for younger children. "The project will allow a wider range of age groups and those of varying degrees of mobility to make better use of Conway Park," says the report.