VIP HONOUR FOR PLAYGROUND TEEN

A Swinton teenager was made a VIP guest at the official opening of a new playground after she complained about the loss of the previous one.

Ciara was eight when the old wooden playground at Campbell Road had to be removed on safety grounds and she was so angry she wrote to Salford City Council to complain.

Now a brand-new playground has been installed, thanks to Section 106 funds from a nearby development and Ciara, 13, was invited to help cut the ribbon to officially open it.

Councillor Barbara Bentham, lead member for environment, neighbourhoods, sports and leisure, said:  “It was a hard decision to remove the old playground, but it had to go on safety grounds. We couldn’t put children at risk of being injured.

“It was always our plan to reinstate it and we remembered Ciara’s letter so we thought now that has been done, the least we could do was to invite her to officially re-open it.”

Mum Janine, who runs her own decluttering and organising company said Ciara and her younger sister Emilia, now 11, were both very upset when the playground was removed.

“They loved playing on it and went virtually every day and at weekends,” she said.

“We’d organised a litter pick and Ciara had played a big part in that so she was really annoyed that the playground had gone when she’d worked hard to tidy up the area. She wrote a letter to the council and sent a drawing of a man chopping the playground down with a big X through it.

“We had a meeting with councillors and they explained why and that it would be replaced and then suddenly the fence went up and the playground was going in.

“It’s lovely to see the children playing on it again and hear the laughs and giggles. Ciara and Emilia still go there and really enjoy it and she was over the moon when she found out she was officially re-opening it.”