Children from Woldingham and surrounding areas will have a more up-to-date, safe and exciting play area than it has had for a very long time thanks to the fundraising efforts of Julie Cornish and Denise Todd with the support of the local community. Woldingham has a playground located on land owned by registered charity Craigmyle Glebe Ltd and a survey carried out in 2008 identified that there was a need to greatly improve the play equipment and surfaces. Since then, funding has been sought from a variety of sources and, by this summer, the village was in a position to replace three condemned pieces.

Denise said: "The playground now boasts a wonderful climbing frame, a very popular pod swing and a roundabout. The adventure trail has also been extended and the seesaw renewed but our recent inspection has advised us that the slide will not survive another year! We already have local support in the form of private donations and small grants from local organisations, but we do still need to continue holding fund-raising events.

"The improvements will mean more children will be interested in visiting the playground and enjoying exercise on their doorstep with their friends. Parents, grandparents and carers will be less inclined to use their cars to take children to other playgrounds and they too will benefit from a lively meeting place where they can socialise with their local community."

The next fundraiser will be a Pre-Christmas Sale on Saturday 5th November from 2-4pm, to be held at St Paul's Church Room, Croft Road, Woldingham. All money raised will be used to continue with the improvements at the playground in Woldingham.

For more information about the project visit www.woldingham.com or call Denise on 01883 652022.