We have been working hard to secure further funding and are grateful to both the city and parish council for the donations they have made to us. We have used some of the money to purchase 4 new sensory boards for the new toddler area in the park. These will hopefully be installed in the coming weeks and will be attached to the fence for

the little ones to play with. We hope they enjoy them!

Whilst we continue to develop the larger parks project we have also set ourselves a shorter term goal of having a zip wire installed in the park. When we considered the survey results it stood out to us that a lot of people would love to see one. When we have spoken to playground equipment companies they have advised that we cannot fit one in the current playground (even though it has been extended). With this in mind we thought we could start to look at getting the zipwire installed in the shorter term without it affecting the overall playground design. We need to consult with the Council but the zipwire will probably be almost directly across from the current park entrance. Prior to starting any work on this we plan to consult with the residents of Blacksmith Lane to make sure they have no objections and then we need to try and raise the money for the cost of the zip wire itself.

We have already started to look to the year ahead and have lots of planned. We hope to have a volunteering day at the end of March so we can paint the new fence. The date for the Grenoside Gala has been confirmed as 17 June and we will have a stall there. Please do speak to us when you see us and ask any questions you have about the project or share any suggestions you have about the park.

Our most exciting news for the start of 2023 is that we have received “agreement in principle” from Helen Sharman to be associated with the playground project. For those who may not already know, Helen became the first British astronaut in 1991.

Helen was born in Grenoside and went to the old Grensoide primary. Helen spent 8 days orbiting the earth during which time she conducted medical, agricultural and chemical experiments. She also carried out earth observation work and operated an amateur radio link with British school students. Given this important piece of Grenoside history, and in order to give recognition to Helen’s interesting and unique story, we hope that we can give the playground and the equipment a space theme. We want the project and the playground itself to encourage the children of Grenoside to aim for the stars!

We are currently working with the city council to put our vision into an affordable plan and hope to be able to reveal these plans soon! Everything we do we take account of the views the community expressed in the survey we held over the summer and hopefully you will see this in the designs we put forward.

Once again a huge thank you to the Grenoside community for your continued support. We will continue to update our social media with updates so please do follow us on there!