A TETBURY-based community service organisation has donated £1,000 to an outdoor play area for disabled and special needs children.

The Bournstream Trust, founded in 1987 and located just outside Wotton-Under-Edge, is an outdoor adventure play and picnic area that provides a safe environment for disabled children to exercise and have fun.

Run by volunteers, the site gives disabled and special needs children, their families, carers, respite groups and special schools a place to socialise without the stigma and ridicule sometimes experiences in mainstream play areas.

Bournstream is open from mid March to October each year. Ahead of the opening, bolunteers clean the area and ensure the site is safe and functional.

The Tetbury Lions, a club which provides help and funds to those in need, helped with the spring cleaning prior to the opening of the play area. 

They also donated £1,000 to the trust - £541 of this donation went towards operational costs, about £6,000 per year, and the remainder was used to purchase gardening tools, or other tools, to use on the site.

The cash and the tools, bought from a hardware store in Tetbury, were presented by Lion president Richard Smith at the spring clean.

Impressed with the facilities at Bournstream, Richard commented that it was “hard not to be moved by the dedication of the volunteer staff and what this place means to a lot of families.”

Mark Pasco, chair of the Bournstream Trust Committee, said he was delighted with the tools and finance donated by Tetbury Lions commenting that this “will not only help the Trust blossom” but it has “heartened and encouraged” all those involved.