GALLERY: New playground opens in Sark

Tuesday 27 September 2022

A new playground costing more than £60,000 has been built in Sark, thanks to a donation from the Guernsey Community Foundation, the Social Investment Fund, and others.

The Friends of Sark School was helped by numerous generous donors, to enable the tailor-made playground and outdoor learning area to be built.

Pictured: Part of the new playground will encourage road safety awareness.

The new playground was designed for children aged three to 13, and it is at the school. The new head of Sark School, Michelle Brady opened the playground last week.

It has a large climbing frame with slide, buddy board, basketball hoop and target board, play train & station, mini three piece trim trail, sand box, outdoor play kitchen, bespoke planter benches, and wet-pour safety surfacing with an integrated mirror-me floor game and bespoke track design for bicycles.

Jim Roberts, Chief Executive of the Community Foundation said; “Having agreed to donate £20,000 through our Grants Programme, we helped raise further funds by calling on other grant-givers.” 

Mr Roberts considers the project a good example of how the Foundation can help across the Bailiwick – and a reminder that, despite its name, it supports community projects and charities outside of Guernsey. 

“We will assist charities anywhere in the Bailiwick,” he explained. “And, as happened with Friends of Sark School, we can use our contacts within the philanthropic community to unlock other sources of funding.” 

Pictured: The new playground wraps around the grounds of Sark School.

FoSS raised the remainder of funds with help from several other corporate donors and grant-givers, including Skipton Community Fund, Investec Bank Community Donations, Co-operative Community Fund, Island Electrics, Rock Trustees, Style Heating & Plumbing, Sark Bonfire Night Charity, and private individuals who supported their fundraising events. 

Rosalie La Trobe-Bateman, Chairperson of FoSS, said the playground has been a long time coming.

“The lack of outdoor play facilities at the School had been highlighted for some time and initial efforts to tackle the problem were made by former Head of School, Dr Nicholas Roberts, and FoSS member Adam Turner, who completed a running challenge last year to raise funds for outdoor play equipment.

“However, FoSS quickly recognised that if real change was to be brought about we would need to set our goals higher." 

In December the group presented its project plan to members of Sark's Chief Pleas and received the green light to proceed.

Further on-island fundraising events and grant applications then took place, and by May FoSS had reached its funding target. 

“We couldn’t be more delighted with the end result and thank our generous donors and all those who have contributed to help make this dream a reality. To see the children so excited for school each morning makes all the hard work worth it,” said Mrs La Trobe-Bateman. 

Mrs La Trobe-Batemant said: “We now have an outdoor play and learning area that the children of Sark School will benefit from for many years to come. It will immeasurably improve the daily educational experience of Sark's schoolchildren and boost the morale of our whole community, which is exactly what our charity aims to do.’