Volunteers raising money for a major refurbishment of a Bristol play area are hoping to tempt people into contributing with rewards - including a family holiday. Play in St George Park is made up of a group of local parents fundraising for new equipment for the John Deasy playground since Bristol City Council says it no longer has the funds.
The group is on the way to raising all the money needed - between £300,000-£400,000 - to replace existing equipment, provide equipment for older children and resurface the ground. In a final push to get the ball rolling they are offering those who donate £440 or more to the fundraiser a holiday at the family-friendly festival Starry Skies, which takes place from July 27-30.
The reward includes two adult tickets and up to four child tickets for a weekend of camping at the festival in Herefordshire. It is worth £645, so by donating to the fundraiser in exchange for the holiday would equate to a saving of £205.
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There is only one of these rewards up for grabs but there are others available depending on the size of the donation. For £250 or more you can claim a family ticket to Bristol Forwards Festival taking place on Clifton Downs where Eyrkah Badu, Bonobo, Goldie and Aphex Twin will be performing in September.
You can also make a saving of £50-£75 on two additional rewards which are available to the first person who claims them after making a minimum donation of £175. One is an evening of wine tasting in Clifton and the other is a hypnobirthing course.
Other rewards include a £5 voucher to spend at Farro bakery, a two-hour pyrography (wood decorating) lesson and a parenting coaching session. Those who donate £100 or more can book a three-hour slot at the Beehive Centre for a children’s party and there is also a 60-minute life coaching session with Mama Coaching if you donate £175 or more.
The playground has not seen any major investment since 2009 when the late St George West councillor Ron Stone approached primary school children in the area and asked for their ideas on what it should look like. The playground cost £87,000, with £50,000 coming from a government grant and £37,000 from developers’ improvement funding.
It was the children's to have a dragon-shaped slide as the centrepiece. Mr Stone, who named the playground after his predecessor, told BristolLive at the time: “It will be named after John Deasy as a living tribute to his dedicated work to families and a permanent memorial to him in the heart of his ward, a place he loved.”
Play at St George Park said: “The John Deasy Play Area is aged and worn, with equipment already removed that could not be repaired any longer. This much-loved facility is used routinely by the community of BS5, but the few items available to play on means lots of families often need to queue to use them, especially the slide and swings! There’s currently no equipment for children aged seven to 14 and so the area stops being used by those families as your child grows past the age of six. There’s also poor surfacing and poor accessible equipment, further restricting its use."
The Crowdfunder here.
