Nearly £10,000 raised for upgrades to Graffham Village playpark

For organiser Rachel Gerrett, the public fundraiser is almost a last resort, the latest step in a years-long quest to improve a public facility which, she thinks, could be so much more.

Before launching the GoFundMe, (available online here) she and her team made 64 grant applications to funding bodies across the UK, to unfortunately no avail, before deciding to raise the funds themselves.

For Rachel, it was always about realising the park’s potential, and giving local children access to the best facilities possible. “I don’t want to talk the old park down too much, but it the truth is it’s dated. Standards have moved on, and that doesn’t mean the current equipment is unsafe, it’s just there’s better, more modern equipment available and it’s time to replace it,” she said.

"We live in Graffham, I have two kids here and the park is on our regular dog walk. We go past it several times a week, and I just realised it needed someone to take ownership of it and see the project through from cradle to grave.”

But there’s still a ways to go. The project received £20,000 from the Parish Council via the community infrastructure levy last year, and Rachel believes the park should cost £50,000 in total to replace – meaning that, with the £9,2000 raised by residents, there’s still some £20,000 left to raise.

Happily, the project has received a tidal wave of support.Two residents – Mr and Mrs Manchester – agreed to loan a substantial portion of the workforce currently renovating their village home to the upgrade effort, where they cleared the existing playpark and set to work laying the ground work for the new equipment which, Rachel says, will follow new and more modern theories of play.

It was an act of real, and surprising generosity, one that shook the project into fast forward and made sure the money already raised will go that much further: “I can’t tell you the difference that’s made to the project,” Rachel explained, thanking them. “It’s tens of thousands that, otherwise, we’d have had to put into the ground. I’m blown away by the generosity, it’s a huge leg up for us.”