Town Council Supports New Play Area At Museum
Woodhorn Museum has successfully raised the funding it needs to create a new fully accessible play area.
Ashington Town Council has made a £10,000 grant to support the charity’s successful public crowdfunder campaign. Over £77,000 has now been raised to create the accessible play area at the Museum with work beginning in the New Year.
As well as the grant from Ashington Town Council the Museum has received support from the SUEZ Communities Trust, The Ridley Family Charity and the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group. The public crowdfunder campaign raised an additional £2,500 from 55 donations.
Rowan Brown, Chief Executive of Museums Northumberland, said ‘We’re hugely grateful to Ashington Town Council and the many, many generous members of the public for helping us realise our ambition to create a more accessible and inclusive play area at Woodhorn Museum. By expanding our existing play area to include more inclusive play equipment, we can ensure that all children can benefit from visiting our museum and have the opportunity to learn about our county’s stories.’
Cllr. Mark Purvis, Chair of Ashington Town Council, said ‘Ashington Town Council has been a proud supporter and funder of activities at Woodhorn Museum for a number of years now. The Council was delighted at this time to be able to support this excellent and highly commendable play area expansion project with a £10,000 financial contribution. The addition of modern, imaginative and fully inclusive play equipment is so important in both creating and expanding opportunities for children of all abilities. It’s great news that Museums Northumberland has achieved the overall funding target that will enable an early project start in further developing the overall outdoor facilities at Woodhorn Museum.’
Adding to the existing play area at Woodhorn Museum, the new accessible play equipment will include a range of experiences to help children interact and learn through movement, sound, vision and memory. Equipment will include a new Pairs Game to build memory skills, themed around Woodhorn Museum’s mining heritage; a Ferraphone to introduce music and sound; a Cradle Nest Swing that can accommodate more than one child; Conference Stations to enable children to communicate across the play site; and a wheelchair accessible rotating plate.
The play area will be reached via a new wheelchair accessible path – with a small slide linking the path with the lower level site – and seating will allow parents to relax while being close by.
Museums Northumberland cares for sites of historic interest and collections across the county, including Woodhorn Museum, Berwick Museum and Art Gallery, Hexham Old Gaol and Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum.
For more information on Woodhorn Museum visit Woodhorn Museum - Museums Northumberland
