A message from Shane Ralph:
Its almost that time of year again…..CHRISTMAS!
Last year I made a large Snowman and put it up for auction. Many from SS17 were so kind and added items to it, so much so that my house was full of Xmas items! We raised almost £200 for the War Memorial in the end.
This year I have made a large Angel as well as 100 small ones for the hunt.
So here is your opportunity to bid for the large Angel and one small Angel.
We will are auctioning off the donated items in a Christmas Hamper plus we have a special donation from our friend AJ The Entertainer.
Check out all the auctions here.
This year the money we raise will go to a project I have been working on for Friends of Hardie Park.
A few weeks back I was at Hardie Park looking at the Skate Park that we will be improving when I noticed a family playing by the swings, they had three children. One of the children was in a wheelchair. His dad lifted him from the chair and laid with in the bucket swing. The other children ran all over the park having fun.
After 5 minutes the dad placed the boy back in the chair and they sat there for another 20 minutes as his brothers carried on playing.
This demonstrated to me that our park could be more accessible, so I would like put a roundabout in the park that can be used by people in a wheelchair.
I have been in contact with a few companies had have got some quotes. I have also spoken to the Council and there is no problem with this unit going in as long as it is up to standard.
The cost of the roundabout and having it installed comes to just over £9,000. I am seeking some funding for the project but the more we raise ourselves the less we have to ask for and most funders will ask for some match funding for the project.
I have been told that there are over 200 children that use wheelchairs in our area yet the only place they can use play equipment in a local park is at Grays Beach.
How great would it be if Stanford-le-Hope had some exclusive equipment that was more inclusive!?!
As you may know Friends of Hardie Park have been running events in the park over the last few years and improving the park with litter picking and raising funds for new equipment.
We are in the midst of our project to build a new skate park on the site of the run down one.
I hope you will help me this Xmas
Regards
Shane.
p.s. If you haven’t signed up as a member of Friends of Hardie Park yet, you can do so here.