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Beacon Hill Natural Play Area (November 2009 - June 2010)

Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College (DSFC)

Welbeck Defence 6th Form College is supporting Loughborough Beacon Rotary Club in the construction of a natural play area in the grounds of Beacon Hill Country Park which will be donated to the county to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Club. The purpose of the play area is to attract youngsters into Beacon Hill Country Park and encourage them to explore the countryside and the National Forest through active play. Natural Play means that there won't be any swings or slides but there will be hurdles to climb over, a tree house, mounds of logs to balance and climb on, and a maze to run around. The project is also supported by Leicestershire County Council who have designed the plans for this project.

November 2009

On Sunday 15th November, eleven Welbeck students joined members of a local Rotary Club in rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty on the first of four Sundays of manual labour, which will lead to the completion of a natural play area for young children in the woodlands of Beacon Hill Country Park.

The project has been funded and arranged by Loughborough Beacon Rotary Club and has been planned to coincide with the Club’s 25th anniversary. The play area has been designed by a landscape architect and its construction is being overseen by the Country Park Rangers.

Having been briefed on the plans, the student and adult volunteers began by clearing the leaf litter, removing rotten tree stumps and any protruding stones. After the first of our four days of labouring, the site looked considerably tidier and ready for the next stage of development which will involve the planning and construction of various obstacles such as a maze and logs to step across or walk along.

The Welbeck team thoroughly enjoyed their handiwork, and we are looking forward to seeing the project develop during the weeks ahead.

December 2009

On Sunday 6th December, another dedicated team of workers continued work on the Natural Play Area Community Project at Beacon Hill Country Park. When we left the site on the 15th November, all the litter was cleared away ready to start building the play equipment. The morning team arrived and started the day by digging holes for the equipment to stand up in and also moving tree trunks. The tree trunks were going to be cut that afternoon so all the volunteers pulled on gloves and picked up a spade to make holes - very deep and very wide. When the team had finally made two holes and a trench, they returned to College for a well earned rest, apart from Ellen Blackie who wanted MORE punishment and volunteered to do the afternoon session too! Then we were on the road again, clutching our lunch bags to get back up to the Country Park and start constructing challenges for children out of natural materials.

We arrived at the lunch break (good timing!), so we all stood around talking and drinking cups of tea before having a brief and safety talk on what we were going to do that afternoon. It wasn’t planned, but we split into boys and girls teams to work on the balance beams and ‘stepping logs’ (the boys) and the ‘climbing logs’ (the girls). We had to clear a bit more soil and then wait for the trees to be measured and cut to various heights. One tree was cut, and we all worked together to push it to the middle of the hole and there it was held in place while we compacted soil around it. More logs were cut to size and the jigsaw began.

We eventually got five logs positioned around the central log, which was then wired off and stapled into the logs to hold it in place while we worked on the next batch of logs, with dogs getting under our feet all the time! After a lot of tree hugging (literally!) we had a 3rd layer around the log, but it was still too high. Time (and light!) was against us, but fortunately the boys had got the balance beam sorted so we all chipped in and filled in the hole around the tree stumps to prevent people using the unfinished equipment, and for good measure put a net around the logs too.

We all can’t wait for January 24th 2010 when we next go up there for another round of pulling logs into place, and making even more equipment for children (and us for a test run!) to play on.

Amy Couchman, 09E Alanbrooke

January 2010

At 09:45 on Sunday 24 January the ‘morning group’ met at the MGS ready for the busy day ahead. We commenced with the usual health and safety brief then split into two groups - those that had previously worked on the standing logs continued their hard work, while the second group were taken to a shallow ditch in the shape of a tear drop and were instructed to make it deeper. We grabbed shovels and started digging, and the work was tough but exhilarating and satisfying. As we dug down the soil turned to rocks and teamwork was essential. This area will eventually become another standing logs activity.

At lunchtime the ‘morning group’ headed back to College for a well-earned meal, while the ‘afternoon’ group met at the MGS with packed lunches ready to leave for their session. After an early lunch the afternoon group split into two groups - one digging and the other working on the standing logs.

The logs group helped take the trees from the wood pile to the standing logs then de-barked them, cut them to length, stood them upright in the hole and tied them in using wire. This required some level of engineering knowledge so the group were pleased.

The digging group worked on the tear drop shape, with a light shower making the soil easier to excavate. We then worked on strengthening and straightening the sides. Unfortunately there was no time to lay the logs in place so the group started making a rockery. This was entirely the idea of the Welbeck students which made us feel quite proud. It involved selecting an area, clearing the vegetation and digging a small ditch. We then collected some rocks and moved them to the area. Having ran out of time we returned to College satisfied, and started cleaning our kit ready for inspection on Tuesday!

March 2010

A week later than planned, we trekked up to the Beacon alone, as the VPP was away, to continue with the natural play area. Today was supposed to be the last session, but typically with any great plan and building works it had been delayed due to adverse weather and hard ground. The Rotary Club had brought in a digger to complete the digging work so we just had to put up the trees. With plans for the maze changed, and high chances that the company we were now going to use installed the fences for us, we had to finish off placing some stepping stones and build another log stack. After another age of ‘tree hugging’ (really!!!), we eventually found some more trunks of the right length, just when myself and Georgina were unable to feel our feet with cold, and the logs were wired into place. However, time was getting on and we had to walk back to College.

During the morning session there was one dog getting under our feet, chasing sticks and clambering all over the log stack we were finishing. The full team of Welbexians were put to the task of finding and stacking tree trunks of the correct width (Aaron’s hand span!) into a pile or compacting the earth around the completed round log stack. After lunch, we were down by two as a couple of our group couldn’t take the heat and walked back to Welbeck for a shower and to welcome home the UVI. The rest of us stayed and had lunch with the rangers, before being joined by the afternoon team of rangers, with yet another dog to get under our feet (especially when we were building the second log stack). Approximately every hour and a half we thawed out with tea breaks before trying to keep the pile straight and keep warm at the same time.

Because of our sheer determination to succeed with the second structure we stayed well over the time we were due to walk back and bumped into the VPP, who has organised this for us, running to check on our progress having just returned from senior Ex! While he was inspecting our work we trooped back to relax our aching muscles in a bath (if the UVI hadn’t already claimed them!) and clean our kit for Tuesday.

There are more sessions planned to finish the project before the summer, and with the amount of work left to do I think we will meet that target.

Amy Couchman, 09E Alanbrooke

April 2010

On Sunday 25th April seven students and the VPP spent their morning in the glorious setting of the woodlands of Beacon Hill Country Park adding the finishing touches to the Rotary Club sponsored Beacon Hill Natural Play Area.

The project, which has been evolving since September 2009, is nearing completion. This was to be the final day of work on this project for the Welbeck volunteers and we used the morning to carry out a number of tasks which included:-

clearing stones from the surface before adding a layer of wood chips to make a safe surface for the children to play on
completing another ‘log stack’ which would provide a ‘stepping stone’ type challenge for youngsters to play on
setting some decorative chain-saw sculptured mushrooms into the ground
chipping old bark off some wonderful wooden sculptures which had also been created by some chainsaw artists

It was a sad moment when it was time to leave, however there are some finishing touches which will be made by contractors during the coming week such as the laying of a path and the installation of a hazel-fenced maze.

We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Rotary Club adult volunteers and we are very grateful to Mr Neil Rowbotham (Chairman of Loughborough Beacon Rotary Club) for giving us the opportunity to put something back into the local community.

It is hoped that an official opening can be arranged towards the end of the AS examination session, and an opportunity for us to see the play area when it is finally completed by the contractors.

June 2010

On the evening of 11th June 2010, 19 Welbeck students and the VPP, who had all been working hard throughout the year on a natural play area for children at Beacon Hill Country Park, finally saw the facility officially opened. As soon as the ribbon had been cut the Welbexians forgot their age and ran straight for the maze at the top of the play area. With all of us being tall(ish), we were able to find our way quite easily to the centre but the dog, and the children who had joined us, took longer to get round. After all of the photos had been taken we stayed on the area for a while, and couldn’t believe that in the space of 6 months we had transformed a piece of woodland into an adventure playground complete with woodcarvings.

Having enjoyed the delights of the woodland setting and the fresh air (a welcome change to the examination hall!), we travelled in convoy to The Wheatsheaf Inn at Thurcaston. When we arrived we were taken to the skittle alley function room. True to its name, it was a long room with a set of skittles and “Cheeses” or as we liked to call them “big oval wooden things”. Before the greatest skittle tournament in the world commenced we were treated to a meal, a delicious Chicken Chasseur by the Rotarians, along with a drink. After the meal the skittle tournament commenced, with two Welbexians joining the Rotarians. Given the fact that the Welbexians had never really played skittles before the Rotarians thought that they would win easily, but after two rounds the score was 143 to 121 with a Welbeck victory! We then went back to College to get an early night in preparation for Summer Camp which begins this weekend.

On behalf of all of the students and the VPP, I would like to thank Neil Rowbotham and his fellow Rotarians for allowing Welbeck the opportunity to be a part of the project and providing us with a lovely meal during the celebrations. I am sure that the play area will be used by lots of children, making it worth all of the sweat and toil that went into making it the best it can be. We all feel very proud to have made such a contribution to this wonderful facility in Beacon Hill Country Park.

Amy Couchman, Alanbrooke 09E

The following staff and students have been involved in this project......

Mr Crookes (VP(P))
Natalie Davies
Vanessa Fields
Zoe Young
Matthew Collison
Peter McElroy
Chris Thompson
Alex Steele
George Barsby
Georgina Jones
Amy Couchman
Ellen Blackie
Aaron Jones
Sarah Beswick
Michelle Sangan

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