Buckie school children create designs for new Letterfourie Play Park
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IT’S all child’s play as Buckie school children have their say in designing the new Letterfourie Play Park in Buckpool.
The redesign has been given a budget of £50k from the Moray Council and comes after the recent revamps of Logie Park in Cullen and Morven Park in Findochty.
Though kids are at the heart of the design, Mrs Mairi Cumming’s class at Cluny Primary School considered the wider community.
“We’ve thought about the park being multigenerational,” said class teacher, Mrs Cumming. “There is a lot of houses around with lots of different ages. There could be benches for the elderly and some kind of eating provisions.”
Other ideas from the class included a sensory area with chimes, noisemakers and water fountains, where those who are sensory deprived can still engage with the park by touching and making noises. They also asked for it to be wheelchair accessible.
More traditional ideas were also very popular with many members of the enthusiastic to see a zip-line. Other popular ideas included climbing frames, see saws and minigolf.
At one point, a rollercoaster was passionately advocated for.
Class member, Rowan, expressed her desire to have monkey bars that can accommodate smaller people.
“There could be a big set of monkey bars and a little set so that little kids can use them,” she said. “Most of the monkey bars in the area are too big and little kids struggle to get on them.”
Class member, Colby, also suggested that more bins be put in place as the last time he visited the park there was litter everywhere.
Community development worker from the Moray Council, Laura Cameron, agreed with these sentiments, noting that on an inspection at a nearby park she, herself, would have struggled to reach the bars.
Mrs Cameron visited the class to understand what children in the area would really like to see. The children were offered a survey and asked to vote for features that they would most like to see at the playpark.
She explained the risks play items such as plastic tube slides, after the tube slide at Well Road Park was recently burned and made unsuitable for use.
“Working at the council you can become very wary…” said Mrs Cameron. “You know, kids were talking about rollercoasters and minigolf but sometimes these things don’t cross your mind because you keep thinking, ‘I don’t think you could do that’”
“However the kids were very solutions focused. Even the discussions about minigolf when Riley suggested we could bring our own clubs. That is something we could have a proper discussion about!
“It’s listening to their ideas and hearing their advice that is quite nice. It’s good to be challenged on your being safe or risk averse and they have got really great ideas!”
After the class’s answers have been considered, the Council will get them to vote again on a final design that the architect’s come up with.
Although not as exciting as a rollercoaster, the designs for this new playpark are sure to be a positive transformation.
