Pupils delight at new play area thanks to donation from Mansfield Town chairman's foundation

The funding for the play area at Farmilo Primary School on Woburn Lane, Pleasley – next to Mansfield Town’s The RH Academy – was made up of £2,195.03 from One Call Insurance’s ‘Round to a Pound’ option, as well as £24,549.37 from The Radford Foundation.

One Call’s ‘Round to a Pound’ option gave customers the choice of rounding their insurance payments up to the nearest pound in 2022, which have helped towards the build of the outdoor play facility and The Radford Foundation, set up in June 2013 by Mansfield Town and One Call owners John and Carolyn Radford, is dedicated to the development of young people in Mansfield.

The Radfords said: “Being fit and active is so important for children and they need the right facilities to make this possible.

“Play areas such as this are beneficial in supporting children to develop physical, social and communication skills, and so we hope this new facility will be a real benefit to the pupils at Farmilo School.

“We’re incredibly grateful to each One Call customer for helping us in supporting local causes.

"We know things haven’t been easy this past year due to the cost-of-living crisis, so any amount donated, no matter how big or small, is appreciated.

“Our ‘Round to a Pound’ initiative is ongoing and we look forward to support more local charities and causes heading forward.”

Suzanne Tryner, Farmilo headteacher, said: “The pupils are thrilled about the new play area.

“Budgets are so tight at the moment and we probably wouldn’t have been able to replace it. It’s really important to us that the children get the equipment they need to play on.

“We’d had the previous one for twelve years and it had started to rot away, so it had to be condemned and taken away.

“We asked The Radford Foundation if they could help a little towards the contribution towards a new play area, but they were very generous and said they would pay for it all, so we’re really grateful.”