Fun day marks opening of city park adventure play area.
Issued by Inshes Community Association
Inshes Park, Inverness will be full of fun and games on Saturday (Oct 5th) to launch the installation of over £300,000 worth of adventure play equipment.
The first phase of Inshes Park was opened last year by The Highland Council and a community based group, Inshes Community Association, took on the task of raising funds to add some stunning equipment to rival the best in the country. The Community Association raised £330k and the contractors have been busy setting up the new equipment over the last few weeks – to the excitement of many local youngsters who have been testing it already!
Instead of a formal opening the association decided to organise a fun day to celebrate the occasion. From 11 am till 3.00pm there will be a chance to try out Segways, mini Highland Games, a climbing wall, bouncy castle and inflatable chute. If the weather is poor there will be live music in Inshes Primary school hall throughout.
The permanent kit will be there for everyone too – a scaled down version of Inverness Castle to climb on, zip wire, double space net, swings, multi-purpose climbing tower, spinning dishes, and a parkour free running course.
Frisbees, bubbles, and balloons will be given out on a first-come-first-served basis and due to limitations on numbers the segways will also be ticketed on a first-come-first-served basis.
City of Inverness Provost Councillor Alex Graham will be there to give it his official blessing.
Chairman and co-founder of Inshes Community Association Roy Pedersen said:
“It’s good to see this new addition to the parks of Inverness take on a character of its own. We are delighted to thank our funders – Inverness Common Good Fund, the Scottish Government’s Active Places Fund, Awards for All, and Highland Council Inverness South Ward Discretionary Budget. This is the first phase of the play area and we are planning to meet shortly to look at what’s next.”
Highland Councillor for Inverness South Ward and co-founder of Inshes Community Association Thomas Prag is looking forward to the fun day:
“We thought it would be best to give the kit a really good work-out to test it properly! Inverness badly needed something more adventurous for young folk to try out their skills – I hope they let me have a shot too! None of this would have been possible without the professional support of Alan Jones – a local resident who specialises in this kind of development.”
Louise Martin CBE, Chair of sportscotland, which administers the Active Places Fund, said: “The investment of £94,000 into the Inshes Park adventure play area, through the Scottish Government’s Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund, has helped to create an excellent facility which will encourage more people of all ages and abilities to become involved in sport and physical activity.
“sportscotland is committed to building and supporting a world-class sporting system at all levels, and this facility will help to introduce more young people to an active lifestyle through activities such as free running and climbing.”
Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing said:
“The Commonwealth Games will be the biggest multi-sports event Scotland has ever hosted and provides a unique opportunity to create a positive and lasting legacy across Scotland. This great new adventure play area will give thousands of youngsters the chance to try new activities and is a great example of how our Active Places Fund is improving facilities to help Scots lead healthier lives.”