Plantation Community celebrates opening of Pinegrove Park
Issued by Plantation Community Association
The Plantation Community Association (PCA) celebrated the opening of its quarter million pound park on Saturday 11 July. The event gave the community the opportunity to celebrate its achievement and enjoy the new facilities including play equipment, a fitness area and mountain bike track on the site which offers great views down to the loch and beyond.
Helen MacKenzie, Chair of the PCA said: “The community have really come together behind this project, and it’s great to see everyone enjoying the park now it’s open.
“The Big Lottery Award and our TPAS National Tenant Group of the Year award all give the Plantation national recognition for the strong, capable community which we are. By working together we can achieve great things like this new park. These new facilities are a credit to our community and everyone who have supported us to come this far
“The whole community has been involved in planning this park for well over four years now – we’ve worked with local people to make sure that the facilities here are what they will use and enjoy. Highland Council’s Ward Discretionary Fund and Tenant Participation Service have also helped us over the years – both with donations and advice. By working together we’ve managed to give the community a great new facility, and increased confidence in seeing what we can all achieve.
“We’ve had visits from other tenant and community groups from Strathpeffer, Caol and Banavie – they are all interested to see what we’ve managed to achieve here. We’re proud of our community, and it’s good to be able to share what we’ve learnt. Who knows, maybe our experience will help to inspire a whole new generation of Lottery Funded amenity areas in Highland – that would be a great legacy.”
Highland Councillor Brian Murphy opened the new facility. He said: “Along with my fellow Highland Councillors for the Fort William and Ardnamurchan Ward, Councillors MacLennan, Gormley and Baxter we welcome the completion of this significant development.
“This was a real community project in every sense of the term, from its conception, to developing the designs, applying for the funding, coping with the problems thrown up during the planning process, tackling the difficult issues which came up during the work, to the final delivery.
“It’s been the community through their very committed community association committee which has driven it forward. They have had a lot of help along the way from Voluntary Action Lochaber, local council officers, advisors and the contractor, but ultimately it wouldn’t have happened had it not been for the enthusiasm, dedication and hard work of the community.”