Upgrade of Acklings Playground

The Parish Council has been planning for a couple of years to upgrade facilities at Acklings.

Applications for grants from South Oxfordshire District Council and the charity FCC Communities Foundation have been successful and the project can now proceed.  These grants will cover the total cost of the project.

The main reason to upgrade Acklings is to ensure that there are play facilities at both ends of the village.  The new play area will include a zip wire and climbing apparatus which should appeal to slightly older children compared with the facilities at Bodkins.  Other features include a hammock and an imaginative playground games area on the concrete strip.  There will also be social areas for both adults and children as well as landscaping and tree planting.  A design map of the proposals can be viewed here.

The playground will be built by Jupiter Play and Leisure.  The equipment is ordered and work is expected to start within the next couple of months.  It will take about eight weeks to complete the build and the playground will be closed during this time.  The work should completed before the school Summer holidays.

The village owes a huge vote of thanks to Claire Michellis who is a resident of the village. Claire is a landscape architect conversant with playground design.  She has given freely of her time to help with the design of the new feature, negotiate with Jupiter and help with the technicalities of the grant applications.

Special thanks is also due to Parish Councillors Steve Brown and particularly Peter Rose who have guided the project from its inception and put in an immense amount of work in negotiating the grants.

The new play facilities will be a great addition to the pump track.  It will turn Acklings into an exciting new play facility and add a new focus for social activity in the village.