Pirate ship opening

Ahoy, me hearties! The pirate ship play equipment has officially been opened at Woodville Road Play Area.

It was opened by the most important people in Boston, the very children who will play on the Pirate Ship each day.

Since Monday last week, Kompan have been installing and erecting the pirate ship play equipment and the children have been very excited to try it out, regularly asking the workers when they will be finished, so they can play.

Kompan very kindly left some treasure for the children, the bounty included sweets, a drink, a bracelet, a squeaking mouth and more.

On Saturday at 1 pm the children finally got their wish and they really made the most of the equipment, which is designed for the use of children aged between 4 and 14 years old, by climbing, sliding and swinging.

To make the children’s wish come true, Captain Fran Taylor worked hard to bring this project to fruition. Getting funding, organising bids and setting a deadline for the constructors, to help ensure the children could have the play equipment ready for half term. In addition, good ol’ captain Fran also bought some pirate dress-up clothes to help the children, and most grown-ups, to get in the spirit of the opening.

The funding for this project was a collaborative project between us at BBL who invested £19,000 and BTAC who gave £14,000. Without us working together this project would, more than likely, not have been able to come together.

Chair of Boston Big Local, Richard Tory, stated that:

We are really pleased to have played our part in funding this project. Just seeing how much the children appreciate it is wonderful to see and hear.
It really does help demonstrate that our BBL goals are set correctly for the BBL area, because this project covers 3 our 4 of our themes – Health and Wellbeing, A More Attractive Environment and Build Community Spirit.
This is something we have wanted to do for some time and we could not have actioned this without the support of the council, BTAC, their open spaces sub-committee and of course Fran.
What a fantastic example of collaboration to deliver an extremely worthwhile project that has bought so much fun, gratitude and excitement from both the children and the grown-ups who are supporting their play on the pirate ship.

The children were most grateful, and approached Fran and Richard to say a personal ‘Thank you’.

Please see Fran’s report to BBL to learn more about the outcomes of this most amazing project.

Download the report