A GROUP of Hillend mums are hoping a fundraising appeal will swing into action to help provide a new playpark for the village.

Stephanie Huback-Thomson, Emma Cockburn, Lesa MacKenzie and Jennifer Campbell are hoping to raise enough cash to upgrade the existing park, which they say is inadequate and becoming dangerous for youngsters.

After holding an informal meeting to discuss the play provision, the Hillend Community Hub was formed which has already overseen the addition of new benches, a notice board and barrows for plants in the village.

A sub-committee concentrating on the playpark project has now been set up with the four mums which has seen applications for funding progressed as well as the launch of a gofundme page.

Stephanie said some elements of the existing park were unsafe for youngsters to use.

"Parts of the park are extremely dangerous as they are – it has one of those roundabouts where you can get your foot stuck along the edge," she explained. "It is just old and the only thing the kids can use is the swing and they always have to be with an adult for that.

"Initially, we did a questionnaire, which was dropped off to every door and asked children what would be their top three items that they would want to see in a park. We received 32 answers from children and the top answers were a slide, swing and zip line followed by a climbing frame and then some random stuff.

"The plans we have would ultimately cost £100,000. The reason we have opened the gofundme page is as part of these applications for official grants we need to show that as a community we are also raising funds to put towards the project.

"We are also doing a sponsored event with the kids. We have a sponsored run on November 21 in the square and we will sell the Hillend calendars and have a bake sale to raise more funds for the playpark.

"It is quite difficult because there is just the four of us and we are all working mums all with two kids."

More than £700 has been raised already through the gofundme page towards the initial £2,000 target.

"The plan also is to have picnic tables and more benches so anyone can go for a sit down and enjoy a lot nicer place. £2,000 is the target. Ideally, we would like to raise more but people have been very kind."

Anyone wanting to contribute to the playpark fund can do so by visiting https://gofund.me/c968c5ce.