A nan said children in Leasowe “wouldn’t be able to survive” if a council-run playground is closed.
The Leasowe Adventure Playground, also known as “the Addy”, is one of three playgroups at risk of closure by Wirral Council as part of budget cuts proposed in January. This is to close its £32m budget gap.
While the latest round of budget proposals doesn't include cuts to the playschemes, campaigners said they won’t step down until they have confirmation from the council it's off the table.
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Children who use the Addy said it’s helped them make friends, learn how to play football and bake cakes as well as use printers to make designs out of boxes.
Tracy Allen, a nan whose children and grandchildren have gone to the Addy, said: “This is a good place for them to come. Some cannot afford a good breakfast but they come here and they get food. The kids at Leasowe wouldn’t be able to survive without it.”
Over the years, the Addy has hosted events such as reptile shows, trips to Chester Zoo and celebrated various cultural festivals, most recently during Chinese New Year where the children learned how to make spring rolls.
During lockdown, staff dressed up and safely dropped arts and crafts round to people’s houses for a competition on Facebook. Parents said it kept their children occupied during that difficult time.
A Wirral Council spokesperson, explaining the need to set a balanced budget and make cuts, said: “To achieve this we are having to review everything we do and how we do it to ensure the council is fit for purpose and able to meet the needs of residents and businesses of the borough, including ensuring the most vulnerable in our communities continue to be looked after.
“At this point no final decisions have been made."
All three playschemes are in some of the most deprived areas of the Wirral and gives children access to resources like printers, papers, and video games they wouldn't otherwise have.
Vera Corlett, who works at the Addy said some of the children on the estate can’t afford to go on holiday so they make a fire pit in the summer and toast marshmallows to “give them the feeling of camping.”
Gemma Dunn, a mum who used to use the Addy herself said: “It’s not even just the kids, it’s us as a community. We don’t get to see each other. We’re all so busy so when it comes round to things like Bonfire Night and we’re all here, we wouldn’t dream of saying “I wonder what so and so is doing for fireworks.'
“We always come here. It doesn’t matter if there’s something interesting happening somewhere else. This is where we want to be.”
If the council decided to cut the play schemes, Joanne Clunie said: “It would be devastating, it really would. It’s such a nice and safe environment for the children, more importantly on Saturday mornings and at the weekend, they can come over and have some food.
“We’re living in a cost of living crisis and the children are warm until at least 7 o’clock when this closes.”
Vera has worked at the playscheme since 1988 and has looked after at least four generations of children. She said: “This isn’t like a job. It is so community based and the generations that come here. It is so much more. You could not get a better community, I couldn’t believe it when I started.”
“It’s sad for me but I am confident we have got what it takes. All these kids, over one hundred kids a night and in the summer, we have over 300 night a night. It is just phenomenal the numbers that we have. There is nothing else for them and this is a lifeline for the community without a doubt.
On February 7 and 8, councillors from the local authority’s children's committee visited the schemes after it passed a recommendation for all councillors to not approve the cuts.
Cllr Kathy Hodson, chair of the committee said she wouldn’t support closing the play schemes saying they were “important to the fabric of society and in the long term are cost effective.”
She added: “It was really interesting. I was very impressed with it all and I would still recommend that they do not close.
“My personal view is that if we close these and it creates problems that cost money later on, is it cost effective to close it down? They are in communities that don’t have a lot so what they do have they protect.”
She wants to see the council should look harder at what it spends on itself when making cuts and that the decision to close the playgroups is ultimately the decision of Council leader Janette Williamson.
Paul Townley, Treasurer of the Addy, said they will be turning up at next week’s Policy and Resources committee where the council will have its first full public debate on the budget proposals.
He said: “The message we want to get across is that we don’t want this to close. Until we get confirmation from the council that the closure of Beechwood, Adventure Playground here and on Gautby Road are off the table, we will maintain our campaign.”
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