Swanton Morley park gets new inclusive swing

Swanton Morley Parish Council has hosted an opening ceremony for the latest addition to Gooseberry Hill play park in the village - a fully accessible swing. 

The swing was funded by a £10,000 grant from The Norwich Freemen’s Charity and £10,000 from the National Lottery Awards For All

The idea for the swing was first raised by Pauline Drury from the village, whose daughter Natalie is a wheelchair user.

Roger Atterwill, parish council chairman, said: “We did some research and were dismayed to find out that this type of inclusive play equipment is extremely rare in Norfolk.

"We could only find two other such public swings in the county, none of which are located in Mid Norfolk.

The new ability swing in Swanton Morley (Image: Supplied)

"We are very grateful to our grant funders and to our contractor, GL Jones from Wales, who were very helpful with the design and construction of the swing.

"I would also like to thank the Drury family for their patience over three years and for their help in ‘road testing’ another swing in the county to make sure ours would be suitable."

Owen Gibb, trustee of the Freemen’s Charity, said: “It was our pleasure to help this worthwhile project and to come here today and see firsthand the difference it has made”.

Mr Atterwill said wheelchair users from across the county were welcome to come and try the new piece of kit.

He said: "Looking to the future, the parish council is determined to ensure that its play provision can be as inclusive as possible.

"This project is a first step and we are already looking at plans to carry out further work in the future subject to obtaining more grant funding."