During a wonderful sunny summer’s Friday afternoon, a group of from Ashford Lodge 8945, were at the Pluckley recreation area, to look around the work taking place to upgrade the play equipment, for the children of the village of Pluckley, and to hand over £500 towards the project, having recently received match funding from the Cornwallis East Kent Freemasons Charity.
As is the case with a lot of small villages, upgrading play equipment has become difficult. Firstly, the existing equipment is aging and being removed due to safety concerns, and replacements are expensive, and funding is difficult to come by. Typically, new play areas are funded as part of wider housing developments as part of the planning conditions, but in the areas where these developments aren’t taking place, it is up to the residents to raise funds in order to upgrade the play areas themselves.