IT'S been seven years in the making for the community who rallied to have Wellwood Park renovated.

The hard work from the community has finally came to fruition as the park had its grand re-opening last Saturday, August 6. Complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, it was the perfect way to welcome the kids to the new play area.

Cllr Auxi Barrera, for Dunfermline North, said: "The reopening was very well organised with bouncy castles, rides, a DJ, a pony therapy, raffles and lots of bubbles! The ribbon was cut not long after midday by a very loved local resident and former Queen Anne HS teacher, Tom Cairns and witnessed by lots of children, who could not wait to play, and many local residents.

"This renewed Playpark is very welcomed across the community, with Wellwood Community Council at the head, they campaigned for it and they deserved to celebrate its reopening."

The renovation was strongly influenced and organised by the local community, including the community council.

Kari McBurnie, secretary of the Community Council at the time the plans were put through and still heavily involved in the project, told the Press: "I love the fact that you can see kids out there playing on it with their families. It gives you a good buzz and a good feeling to know that you've been involved in this and everybody has just played their part and done a great job with it.

"I was out walking the dog the other night at 9 o'clock and there was still kids playing at the park. It was fantastic, we've never had that before."

The old park had been there since Kari was a child herself in the 80's and it had never been upgraded. Plans for the regeneration were originally submitted in 2015 but between work being carried out in the village and then a global pandemic to top it all off meant that only now, seven years later, has the work been completed.

She continued: "The original plans that were drawn up for the park only had four things that were getting changed and we only had a budget of something like £50,000 so the park was minimum. I think originally the plans were rejected so we had to do public consultations with different brochures from park and equipment providers.

"We just got people to put pen to paper, what would you like in the park, have a look at the brochures and put it in the box.

"That's when we went to the vendors and said this is what we're looking for, design us a park."

The delays have meant that the kids the new park were intended for have all grown up and while they can still play on some of the new equipment, the plans for a Multi Use Games Area will mean that the older children will have somewhere to run around and play.

Despite it now being open, the park still has a way to go. Kari and the rest of the community have plans to plant fruit trees, a maze of bushes for the kids to play in, replacing the lighting in the park and relaying the path that her grandfather, originally had installed.

"There was a lot of community involvement, a lot of opinions from people on what they wanted as well!"