Read about our successful journey to achieve a Village Park.
In 2001 the children in the village of Swaton campaigned for a play area. Swaton is a rural village surrounded by Crown land and farms. Our struggle to get 'The Crown' to lease a small area of land for a kid’s park resulted in the creation of one of the newest Parish Councils in the Country and the first new Parish Council in Lincolnshire since 1974. It took around 13 years for The Crown to agree but the hard work has been worth it . . .
Whilst supporting the children's campaign, Gail Deptford found herself elected Parish Chairman of Swaton Village ‘Meeting’, working with Barry Jeffery, then acting Parish Secretary. Together they realised that the only way they could effectively bring about improvements within the village was to campaign for and negotiate the creation of a new Parish Council.
Launched in 2002 the new Parish Council had a busy first couple of years, achieving grants for two bus shelters, agreement for a mains sewage scheme to be installed, traffic calming initiatives within the village and on the A52, repairs to footpaths, footpath lighting and the re-instatement of a Polling Station in the village. When the first proper elections were carried out Gail and Barry stepped down after two years hard work to enable others to bring their diverse knowledge and skills to new projects.
In 2004 the Council decided that the very run down ‘Village Hut’, adjacent to St Michael's Church had to be replaced. "The Swaton Community Trust" with Parish Councillors and Church Officers as Trustees was thus established with the specific purpose of raising funds to build a new community Centre. The Trust negotiated a lease with the Diocese of Lincoln and raised £75,000 from Community Council and Landfill Grants and the new community building (re-christened “The Hut”) was opened in October 2005.
Today’s Council with it's Accredited Clerk, Mrs Shelagh McIntyre, has achieved the status of ‘Quality Council’ to further enhance its reputation as a Council that makes things happen !
In late 2012, after nearly 13 years of 'badgering', The Crown they finally agreed to release a small parcel of grazing land (to the North of the Church) as a play area. Many Thanks to all who have pushed, cajoled, hassled, fund raised and got their hands dirty over the years.
DECEMBER 2013 - With a lot of help from residents, old and young, LCC & NKDC, the Play Area is now fenced, gated and up and running so the kids can stop playing up and down the high street. A temporary youth shelter and second-hand goalposts and basketball hoop obtained from a local school's closure are now in place with further, more permanent, play and sports equipment planned for once we've raised the funds.
NOVEMBER 2016 - It’s A Start - Thanks to donations from SWATON VINTAGE DAY, THE SWATON VILLAGE FUND and a significant Grant obtained by Cllr Elaine Penketh for £8000 from TESCO's BAGS OF HELP' fund, the first three pieces of play equipment were installed - Swings, a See-Saw and a Zip-Wire which were opened to the public on Saturday 19th November.
July 2017 - Building A Shelter - A group of Swaton volunteers commenced to hand-build a large wooden shelter and picnic area having been awarded a small grant of £1742.00 from BICKER WIND FARM via the Lincolnshire Community Foundation and £500 from Lincolnshire Playing Fields Association to buy the wood and metal needed for its construction. Thanks to the efforts of all the village volunteers who include skilled Engineers and Cabinet makers we crafted a fabulous shelter that sits in the middle of the park. The community park fund has saved many thousands of pounds on a much needed haven for the village children to congregate thanks to the hard work of the village volunteers.
2017 UPDATE - roundabout and basket swing - Swaton’s Queen Elizabeth Park had a successful 2017 – In May, thanks to another successful grant application by Cllr Penketh, this time to THE NATIONAL LOTTERY COMMUNITY FUND, Swaton Park was awarded £9,998.00 which saw the installation of a wheelchair friendly roundabout as well as a basket swing.
As we saw 2017 come to an end, we commenced with Phase 3 – the installation of a 5 piece Trim-Trail, 2 cradle swings and a double seat springer which is thanks to Swaton Parish Council being nominated as THE COOP's COMMUNITY CHAMPION - the Coop granted Swaton over £9,000 to which we added a further grant of £1k from TESCO.
Phase 4 then kicked in, raising £2,500 for a football area with football nets and protective chain link fencing. This was to be created at cost by members of the village as buying a football area from a company was ‘way out of our price range’ so its massive thanks to our local in-village engineer Cllr Alan Wilson who led the project.
10th JUNE 2018 - VILLAGE FETE FUNDRAISER
Wowzer, what a day. The sun was shining and the day couldn't have been more prefect with hundreds of people from the across the region who poured in to Swaton to support the our fund raising efforts.
We held a traditional fete with old fashioned games such as a Coconut Shy, Welly Wanging, Tin Can Alley, Hook-a-Fish and Skittles (many of the games had been donated by John Abbott and renovated by Cllr Alan Wilson) plus Pony Rides & Ball in a Bucket. A Tombola stool run by Cllr Mrs Penketh was overrun with gifts of new items donated from many outlets in Sleaford as well as from local establishments.
A book stall run by Judy Couture and a Bric-a-Brac stall run by Mr John Lukjaniec also had a wealth of donations. Chas Smith had his ice cream can on site cooling us with his delicious wares and Saff Murphy and her Steel Band entertained everyone accompanied by the amazing voices of Hollie Arnold and Corin Murphy. There was a Tea and Cake stall run by Nicola Arnold and Vicki Webb, helped by too many ladies to individually name here.
The day was an amazing success and around £1000 was raised to go towards the football area & steel fencing.
JUNE 2019 - Goal Posts and ball stopping net. A group of village volunteers lead by Chairman Mr Alan Wilson installed the football area to the rear of the park with a goal net and 3m high ball stopping fence around the perimeter of the football area for safety purposes - this is a great addition for the older kids.
July 2019 - A successful grant application by Cllr Penketh to THE NATIONAL LOTTERY COMMUNITY FUND saw Swaton awarded £10k to add equipment with the addition of a fabulous and very colourful climbing frame with tunnel and climbing nets for the younger children of the area.
2022 - Thank you SMITHS CONSTRUCTION for the kind donation of Astroturf to place in areas that are hard to mow but need to be regularly maintained such as around the goal posts.
2022 / 2023 Thanks to a grant obtained from The Sleaford Powerplant by Cllr Penketh, we were able to place 3 picnic tables in the park, one of which is wheelchair friendly allowing a disabled person seated in their wheelchair to be sat close to the table amongst their friends and family who can use any of the seats on the other 3 sides.
We also placed a large, green caterpillar for younger children to use. The caterpillar was placed around the base of a felled tree that was cut down due to safety issues as in a poor condition and is a strikingly eye-catching addition to the park.
A large sign has been purchased which will be placed at the front of the park with safety information and rules-of-use as well as Logos identifying of all our Grant Contributors. Again, a BIG THANKS to The Powerplant for supporting Swaton.
Jan 2025 - Thanks again for the grant obtained from THE NATIONAL LOTTERY COMMUNITY FUND, Swaton Parish Council were able to add a large notice board outside the village hall for both the PC and Swaton Trust to use as well as an 'A-Frame Scramble Net' to the Trim Trail which is already proving popular with kids of all ages and hope later in the year to add in some monkey bars. ANOTHER MASSIVE THANKS TO THE NATIONAL LOTTERY FUND FOR THEIR CONTINUED SUPPORT.
A BIG THANK YOU to all who have volunteered to make this park possible. It’s taken took over 23 years to get our wonderful park to where it is now but work still carries on in its maintenance and upkeep so THANKS to all who help keep it tidy, keep the grass mowed, the weeds to a minimum and regular maintenance cheeks completed – we couldn’t have done it without you.
2025 - the last piece of equipment is planned, a set of monkey bars to finish the Trim Trail then Cllr Penketh can take a rest from grant applications ! !
MANY THANKS TO ALL THE CONTRIBUTORS WHO CONTIUE TO HELP US MAKE SWATON'S PLAY PARK THE BEST IN THE AREA
CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE
The National Lottery Community Fund - www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk
Tesco - www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk
COOP - https://causes.coop.co.uk/
Bicker Windfarm Trust - https://lincolnshirecf.co.uk/grants/bicker/
NKDC and The Powerplant Community Fund
The Community of Swaton
Lincolnshire Playing Fields Association