Media release: Thursday 26 March 2015
Release: immediate
New weapon in the fight for adventure play
We don’t want to see another London adventure playground close down. It is
sadly too late for Brent’s Stonebridge Adventure Playground – but now we are
pleased to announce new funding for a project which will equip playgrounds
with tools we hope will help them avoid the same fate.
London Play’s new ‘Play Works’ project will give adventure playgrounds the tools to
evidence and evaluate the impact of what they do, enabling them to make
arguments for funding backed by hard data. This timely project will kick off this
summer thanks to a £138,000 grant from the City of London Corporation’s charity,
City Bridge Trust. It will see London Play work with 12 adventure playgrounds and
other play projects across London over the next three years.
‘Austerity’ has hit London’s adventure playgrounds hard. This month we have had
the sad news that despite a bitter fight to save it, Brent’s Stonebridge Adventure
Playground will close after nearly 40 years at the heart of the community. It comes
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two years after the demise of the iconic Battersea Park Adventure Playground, and
many of London’s 80 or so unique adventure playgrounds are locked in similar
battles for survival. Worryingly, last week’s budget announcement confirmed that the
worst of austerity measures are yet to come.
The reality is that most adventure playgrounds operate on a shoestring budget yet
make huge contributions to the kind of outcomes that funders are looking for:
healthier lifestyles; friendlier, safer communities; improved social cohesion; providing
opportunities for volunteering; supporting parents and carers into work; raising young
people’s aspirations; reducing antisocial behaviour… the list goes on. The committed
staff that work at these playgrounds are good at explaining why play is important but
generally lack the time, tools and resources to back this with hard evidence.
And while London Play has done what it can to support them – weighing in on behalf
of Battersea Park and working to galvanise support for Stonebridge – we too have
been fighting for survival and lacked the resources to offer the level of support we
would have liked. Now, Play Works will enable us to directly support 12 adventure
playgrounds and help them prove their worth. Ultimately all of London’s adventure
playgrounds will benefit – with a free online evaluation toolkit and other resources
developed through this work to be made available to all.
“It would be really useful for us when writing bids for funding to be able to back up
what we say with hard evidence,” said Shona Noel, manager at Hackney’s
Shakespeare Walk Adventure Playground. “At the moment a lot of what we put in
bids to support our case is anecdotal, for example around the influence we have had
on promoting better community cohesion. We know that we get a very broad cross
section of people from all types of backgrounds and cultures here, who would not
necessarily have the opportunity to mix with one another elsewhere. But actually
quantifying the impact of that would enable us to make a much stronger argument.”
“This project has real potential to provide a unique insight into the value of staffed
play provision,” added Mike Dessington, who runs the award-winning White City
Adventure Playground in Hammersmith and Fulham. “Continued austerity means
hard times ahead for all play providers and it is vital that we know how to put forward
the case for play.”
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The 12 participating playgrounds will each get dedicated support and training from
an experienced evaluation practitioner, some funding for staff time, and work
towards developing a system for capturing what is done best at that particular
playground.
If you work or volunteer at a London adventure playground which you think could
benefit from getting involved in this exciting project, please register your interest by
emailing [email protected]
For media enquiries please contact Fiona Sutherland, London Play policy and
communications manager [email protected] or 0203 384 8510.
Notes to editors
1. London Play is a small charity that strives to get more children in London playing out more often. We promote
children’s right to play, campaign for more and improved out-of-school play services for children and young
people across London, and support play providers in the capital. We also directly provide more play
opportunities for children by supporting residents and councils to develop play streets, building nature play areas
and running events.
2. There are around 90 adventure playgrounds across London providing school-aged children with opportunities
to play that are difficult to find elsewhere in our busy, urban environment. Fenced and secure, adventure
playgrounds are oases of nature, often located in some of London’s more deprived neighbourhoods.
3. The City of London Corporation’s charity, City Bridge Trust, is the grant-making arm of Bridge House Estates.
It was established to make use of funds surplus to bridge requirements and provides grants totalling around
£15m per year towards charitable activity benefitting Greater London. The grant to London Play for the Play
Works project is for a total of £138,000 over three years.
4. London Play’s work is supported by a variety of funders including the Big Lottery Reaching Communities
Programme, Department of Health and the Tudor Trust.
89-93 Fonthill Road, London N4 3JH - www.londonplay.org.uk
phone: 0203 384 8510 - email: [email protected]
Patrons: Simon Hughes MP, Lord Smith of Finsbury, Jon Snow, Stephen Studd, Polly Toynbee
Company limited by guarantee, registered in England no. 4055882. Registered charity no. 1104731.
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