Children at a primary school in Leeds, Kent, will soon be enjoying new play equipment thanks to a donation by South East Water.
Last summer, a water mains replacement project resulted in Upper Street, Leeds being closed. When term started in September, Leeds and Broomfield Church of England Primary School, and the parents and carers of the children who attended, were faced with a dilemma. With many families needing to travel from one end of the closure to the other twice a day, the increase in traffic along the diversion route would make the journey much longer than normal.
Working together, the school and South East Water arranged for minibuses to take children from one end of the road closure to the other. This removed around 50 cars from the school run in the morning and afternoon, reducing the amount of traffic having to travel at peak times of the day.
Jeremy Dufour, South East Water’s project manager, said: “From multiple meetings with the community ahead of the works, we knew traffic was always a big concern whenever Upper Street is closed. We were therefore conscious of the impact of schools returning and the dramatic increase this would have on cars trying to get from one side of the closure to the other. We worked with the school to come to a solution.
“We wanted to say thank you and help support them in return. After speaking to the Head, Fiona Steer, and discovering that recent building works resulted in the memorial playground needing to be moved and upgraded, we worked with the school to see what we could do to help.”
Fiona explained: “The memorial playground is beloved by the children at our school and was originally installed more than 25 years ago in memory of a child who attended. South East Water’s generous donation will help complete our fundraising to get the playground rebuilt.”
The donation, more than £7,500, will enable the playground to have a new climbing frame installed. One child said: “We are so lucky. Thank you South East water for making this possible, I can't wait to try out the new activities on our climbing frame.”
Jeremy continued, “We wanted to thank the school and the community for their support and patience while we carried out the vital work in Upper Street, and by supporting the school’s ambition to rebuild their playground, local children will have a great place to run off some energy between classes.”
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