A DARLINGTON village now has a playground thanks to a long-term community fundraising campaign and financial backing from a regional employer.

The Bishopton Playground Association has been working for four years to create a playground in the village.

Having secured a piece of land near the village for the project three years ago, a team of local volunteers has been working to prepare it.

Pre-Covid community fundraising activities were carried out to raise the money for this preparatory work, with a £5,000 grant from the community benefits fund linked to Banks Renewables’ near Moor House wind farm also being provided.

Read more: Dilapidated shop in Middleton St George near Darlington will become cafe

Bishopton Playground Association committee member, Norman Melaney says: "We wouldn’t have been able to do half as much without Banks’ continuing support for our work and the funding provided for this.”

Lewis Stokes, community relations manager at the Banks Group, said: “Our wind farm community funds are designed to support good causes in surrounding communities which make a tangible difference to the lives of local people.”

Read more: Darlington fly-tipper caught out by paper trail

A further £3,000 grant from the community benefits fund linked to Banks Renewables’ Lambs Hill wind farm near Sadberge has funded the purchase of new play equipment for the park.

This includes an adventure tower and two sets of swings, one including a cradle swing for very young children and the other providing an accessible basket swing to ensure anyone can use it.

Substantial community funding has been allocated to support projects in Bishopton from the two Banks Renewables wind farm community funds over the last few years, including the permanent installation of three speed monitoring devices to warn drivers to watch their speed when coming into the village.

--

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated Darlington Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054