Parents around the Island, especially those with additional needs, are celebrating after funding has finally been secured for The Godshill Play Park Project, a project founded eight and a half years ago by chiropractor and Godshill resident, Nikki Collinson-Phenix.
It was a conversation back in 2015, that Nikki had had with one of her patients which had been the catalyst for the project. A heartbreaking conversation with a mum who had mentioned during her appointment how challenging she found going to a playground with her children, as one had to use a wheelchair. Her wheelchair-bound child always had to sit on the sidelines to watch their siblings having fun because none of the equipment was wheelchair accessible.
‘Fun For ALL! project launched
The conversation stayed with Nikki and two weeks later she mentioned it to the chair of Godshill Parish Council, Alison Childs, and asked whether there were plans to upgrade the outdated Godshill play equipment to make it more accessible. Alison advised that there were no plans. There was no funding available, and no one to run such a project.
Fuelled by a stubborn determination, and as a mum herself, Nikki declared that she would take on the project, and that day The Godshill Play Park Project with its mantra ‘Fun For ALL!’ was launched.
The goal…..to bring an inclusive playpark to the more accessible location of Central Mead, Godshill where children and parents could play together regardless of any challenges they may face, and where no child would be sitting on the sidelines.
High number of children with disabilities
As of today most of the Island’s play spaces are only accessible by able-bodied children, and yet the Island has a high number of children with disabilities who are all unable to enjoy most of the public playgrounds.
However, despite massive verbal and written support from the Island community, securing funding for a project of this size had always been the hardest mountain to climb. With an extremely promising National Lottery Community Fund bid, things looked very hopeful, as the project continued to work through securing its planning permission.
Planning permission granted
It was June 2021, after a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, also delayed by the onset of Covid that planning permission was finally granted, and then things nosedived. Nikki said,
“From the outset, the National Lottery were extremely supportive and positive of the project. They visited the proposed site at Central Mead, loved the plans, and were 100% behind it. Gaining the planning permission however took a lot longer than anticipated to secure and when we finally got permission we were now deep into Covid. The price of all the materials and play equipment had suddenly doubled and our lottery bid needed to increase or our project needed to get smaller.
“They wouldn’t allow us to increase the bid, so we revised the project to make it just as
inclusive, but smaller. Then suddenly in 2022 whilst in deep discussions with the lottery
on securing the final funding, they suddenly pulled the plug on our bid. They announced
they were now focusing solely on post-Covid recovery projects and shutting down any
other bids that were not Covid-related. It came completely out of the blue, and to say we were devastated is an understatement. We had worked so very hard to get to this point and suddenly our main funding source was gone.“We now had the planning permission, but we no longer had the funds in the pipeline to
build the park. Over the years, we had of course run our own fundraising activities with our small fundraising committee, but despite so much support from the Island it was just a handful of us doing all the fundraising which only brought in tiny amounts here and there. They were soon swallowed up by the costs involved in obtaining the planning permission and other costs associated with a project of this size. Fran kept applying for grants and we really hoped more people would help with the fundraising, but it just didn’t materialise. I had never anticipated it taking us this long, but then I hadn’t factored in a pandemic either. I also left the Island in late 2021 to travel, and it became hard to manage the project when I wasn’t on the Island. Our hopes were pinned on the lottery and when they shut down our bid, the project ground to a devastating halt until we could find new funding which now seemed like an impossible task.”
Incredible anonymous donors
Today however, the small but mighty fundraising team behind The Godshill Play Park Project, including Fran Shelly, Emma Bravery and Tammy Hall-Patterson, along with Godshill Parish Council are celebrating securing the remaining funding for the playpark from some incredible donors who wish to remain anonymous but who released this statement,
“We were so excited to read about the playpark project and simultaneously devastated when we had heard it had lost funding.
“We really wanted to be able to help and to see this much valuable resource built for the village and the wider community.”
Collinson-Phenix: Speechless at the generosity of our donors
Nikki said,
“A project of this size and scope is not cheap, especially since Covid. We have a few Island businesses who kindly sponsored small pieces of equipment and those earlier fundraisers and donations certainly helped get us the much-needed planning permission. But this incredible anonymous donation secures the rest of the whole revised project and I am honestly speechless at the generosity of our donors. There were certainly a good few tears of joy when I heard the news!
“To say we are so grateful is an understatement and just doesn’t come close to what this means to us. It may have taken eight and a half years from that first conversation and the launch of the project, but finally that play park is going to be built and I could not be more grateful to everyone who has supported this project, but of course especially to these unbelievable donors. Your kindness blows my mind!”
What to expect
In keeping with the original version as much as possible, although the project has had to be revised, the inclusive space will feature a range of wheel-accessible equipment, as well as equipment for able-bodied children and sensory areas.
The play park will be housed as planned on Central Mead and it is hoped very much that it will be enjoyed by local families, Islanders, and tourists alike. Work to build the new Godshill Play Park is due to begin shortly.
News shared by Nikki, in her own words. Ed
