A CHILDREN’S playpark created out of boggy waste ground has become the latest success story for a scheme that has raised millions of pounds for villages within Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
Residents of Benmore, Kilmun and Strone in Argyll had struggled to raise the funds necessary to transform the only flat piece of ground for miles into a place suitable for children to play.
Their appeals for money proved unsuccessful until the National Park’s community futures programme offered support.
It helped residents to form a Community Development Trust (CDT) which was able to access £140,000 worth of funding. The result is the innovative Graham’s Point Heritage Park, a play park inspired by the early settlers, monks and Victorian shipbuilders who have all, at one time, called this part of Argyll home.
Features include a monks’ roundhouse built by local craftsmen, willow walks, wooden canoes, and a play boat, based on the Clyde steamer, the Madge Wildfire, which for many years operated between Glasgow and Kilmun.
A total of 20 community development trusts operate across the National Park and between them they have raised more than £6 million since 2002.
Lesley Campbell of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park said: ‘There’s a real dedicated team within the park that is committed to making things happen, but we don’t just give support, we also encourage links between all the communities.’
