Lode Parish Council

To update Lode’s playground, diversify exercise facilities for all ages and encourage engagement with natural spaces. Our project will focus on Lode’s recreation ground, children’s play area and wilder public green spaces:
1) Update and upgrade key components of the village playground. Following a review of the playground, including our 2024 ROSPA report, a 2025 PIPA Disability Audit, work with a local disability charity and community consultations, we have identified items that need replacement, repair or upgrading. Defunct and dangerous rubber safety mats will be replaced with poured rubber surfaces, a rotten wooden climbing frame will be replaced with a more accessible 3m activity net, an inclusive sunken trampoline will be added, as too will a spinning carousel pole and sensory play items. There will be a renovation of a much-loved 4-seater rocking horse and the addition of new multi-coloured bench with high back and arms. Existing metal swings and climbing frames that are structurally sound will be professionally repainted and a play boat will be made more accessible and renovated.

2) To balance improved play facilities for younger members of the community with interests and needs of youth and older residents we will upgrade the village basketball court and establish a boules court. Situated next to the Lode Recreation Ground and Village Hall, our half basketball court will be upgraded with a new cantilevered hoop and backboard and 3×3 court markings. The boules court will be constructed on a patch of scrub that lies adjacent to the basketball court. Established trees and hedging will be retained for natural shading.

3) The playground, basketball court and proposed boules court are all located close to the Fassage Green, a 1ha area of community owned land, which over the past 5 years has been established by residents of Lode. It features a heritage orchard, wildflower meadows, native trees, a swift tower and accessible gravel paths. This project will link to this natural space through volunteer days for planting and pruning, apple pressing and running a ‘bioblitz’ to discover as many species of plants, animals and fungi as possible on the Fassage Green. No cost to the project for these activities.

The Thalia WB Community Fund will cover the following items that relate to the project areas above:
• Replacement of a rotten wooden climbing frame with a more accessible 3m activity net
• Installation of an inclusive sunken trampoline
• Sensory play items (Rainmaker Wheel, Wiggle Mirror and Communication Panel)
• Renovation of a 4-seater rocking horse
• Installation of a multi-coloured bench
• Site preparation for a Boules Court
• Installation of a Boules Court
• Replacement of a Basketball hoop unit