BALLYMACWARD Pre-School was bathed in autumnal sunshine as the Rock Road’s nursery unit unveiled its brand new outdoor play area.
£10,000 worth of funding was awarded from the Big Lottery Fund for the outdoor project, which has an outdoor kitchen, climbing frames, slides and tunnel for the children to enjoy.
The play area was blessed by parish priest of St Joseph’s Church, Fr Kevin McGukien, and Fr Martin Payton as Ballymacward Principal Hugh Kennedy thanked all those who had contributed and worked to get the project to completion.
Leader of Ballymacward Pre-School group, Patricia Hagan, explained how the land to build the new play area on was donated by the parish.
“One of our parents last year, Terry Harper of Harper Contracts and his wife Caren, who designed the area, built it for us.
“We had ceili set dancers raising funds for us as well. The area will be for the play group and the junior end of the primary school to enjoy and have hours of fun in.”
Chairperson of the Pre-School group, Caroline Tracey, added: “We felt it was important to have this celebration as the Pre-School very much requires the on-going support of the local community and we want to say how much that means to us.
“We could not have achieved this without lots of help and want to offer our grateful thanks to Shauneen McCusker, Michael Goan and Balloo Hire who provided the machinery we needed to complete the project, as well as Declan Burns and White Mountain for providing the buffet as part of our celebrations.
“This play area will be used by all the little ones passing through our pre-school and the junior end of our primary school for years to come and that is priceless to us. I want to mention our amazing staff Patricia, Christine, Sarah and Roberta – without them this place is just a building, they bring it to life and for that thank you.”