Children at a North Pennines pre-school have got plenty to celebrate with a new outdoor space to play in.

Allendale pre-school, whose committee is made up by volunteers, put together a fundraising campaign to pay for the project – and they also benefited from a Calor Rural Community Fund grant.

The money has gone towards a renovation of its space outside, with local carpenter Jonah Maurice chosen to help build new equipment.

“We were crying out for extra space and several years ago committee members approached Northumberland County Council to ask if could we get some extra land out the back that was part of the former first school building,” said Joanne Sutterby, the chairwoman of the committee.

“Over the last few years plans have been put in place and last year we got an interim licence agreement for a new piece of land out the back of the pre-school.”

The pre-school, which is a registered charity, has been able to benefit from both local support as well as a community fund as Joanne went on to explain.

“The Calor Rural Community Fund awarded us £5,000 in summer 2020 and we also raised over £4,000 from an online crowd funder as part of the Calor application process,” added Joanne.

“So we have had just over £9,000 to totally revamp the derelict outside area.

Committee member Rebecca Jameson compiled all the information needed to apply for the the Calor Fund and local photographer Nat Wilkins volunteered his time to make some promotional videos to support the application.

Joanne went on to add that the committee was currently on the lookout for new members.

“There’s six of us on the committee,” she said.

“We’re sort of in a position where we could do some new people to come forward to help.”

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