Irthlingborough pupils' design competition wins Stanwick Lakes cash for play area

Children at an Irthlingborough school have been rewarded for designing their dream playground after a competition to help rebuild one destroyed by fire earlier this year.

Irthlingborough Nursery and Infant School were encouraged to use their creative skills in a drawing competition held in support of Stanwick Lakes following the arson attack that destroyed the all-wood adventure play park.

Davidsons Homes invited Year 2 pupils to design their dream playground, with annual membership passes for Stanwick Lakes on offer for the most outstanding creations.

Olivia Adlam, Eloise Tollady and Eva Bird were declared winners for their innovative playground designs, meaning they were each awarded with a membership pass for the popular 750-acre countryside attraction.

Jan Marshall, headteacher at Irthlingborough Nursery and Infant School, said: “We are very proud to have been involved in this competition to support Stanwick Lakes, as our children love playing there and were very upset about the recent vandalism.

“As a school we develop our pupil’s drawing skills from nursery, so for them to be able to put their talents to use is wonderful. The children came up with great ideas and really enjoyed participating in the competition. The activity has also given them lots of ideas for our own playground as we need new apparatus.

“At this point in our Covid-19 journey, play and social interaction is so important for all children. The winners are really looking forward to regular trips to Stanwick Lakes, which is a fantastic local resource.”

The yearly pass allows members to visit Stanwick Lakes as many times as they like without paying car parking charges. Other savings include reduced prices for certain activities and seasonal member-only promotions in the shop.

All 87 participants from Year 2 also received a day pass for their efforts, with Davidsons Homes contributing over £600 in total for the country park.

Abigail Mynott, marketing and events coordinator at Stanwick Lakes, said: "We are so grateful for the support from Davidsons Homes. The competition was such a fun and creative way to raise much-needed funds for Stanwick Lakes.

“The team here are overwhelmed by their generosity – it means so much. We look forward to welcoming many friendly faces to the country park.”

Simon Tyler, sales director for Davidsons Homes South Midlands, said: “We are always keen to reach out to local schools and organisations in the areas where we are building, so we are pleased to have hosted this fun competition involving both Irthlingborough Nursery and Infant School and Stanwick Lakes.

“We hope the children enjoyed expressing their creativity with their dream playground drawings. We were really impressed by the imagination and effort that went into all the designs – it was extremely difficult to select the winners.

“We are also pleased to have supported Stanwick Lakes by purchasing just short of 90 daily and annual passes. While lots of money has been raised to rebuild the play area after the fire, we wanted to show our support by encouraging more people to visit the attraction.

“We hope the children and their respective families have enjoyed visiting Stanwick Lakes and its facilities this summer.”