Published: Thursday, 26th June 2025
The outdoor children’s play area in Gaywood has been refurbished with a little design help from a Howard Junior School student.
The refurbished play area, which was reopened on Tuesday 17 June, was made possible through funding from Section 106 monies allocated from the nearby Florence Fields Parkway development.
Cllr Paul Bland, Cabinet Member for Parking and Open Spaces said:
“The revitalised Parkway play area offers a vibrant, inclusive space for children to play, explore, and develop their creativity. I hope the community here look after this play area.
“It’s wonderful that children from Howard Junior School were able to help shape its design too. They received over 50 entries to their ‘Design a Play Panel’ challenge that they set the children. Congratulations to student Thomas whose design prominently features in this play area.”
“New housing developments help improve community infrastructure by paying money, called section 106, and this is an excellent example of money well spent. It will have a positive impact on this local community.”
Following a comprehensive tendering process, Wicksteed Leisure was awarded the contract to carry out the upgrade. The project included the removal of nine outdated play items and their replacement with eighteen modern, accessible, and challenging pieces of equipment suitable for a broad age range. To ensure safety and longevity, new safety surfacing has been installed beneath the entire play area.
Ben Paull, Principal of Howard Junior school said:
“'The new playground area looks brilliant and offers a great range of different activities for children to enjoy and play on. It has been fantastic to see children from the local community coming together to socialise and enjoy this outdoor space".
Jodie Midlane, Area Sales Manager for Wicksteed Leisure said:
“At Wicksteed Leisure, we believe that the best play spaces are created with the community, not just for it — which is why we were so excited to run a "Design Your Play Panel" competition with the pupils at Howard Junior School, right next door to the new playground we were revamping in King’s Lynn.
With the new play area being train-themed – inspired by its close proximity to King’s Lynn Train Station – we asked the children to get creative and design a panel that celebrated this exciting theme. We were absolutely delighted to receive over 50 imaginative entries, all full of colour, fun, and personality.
The winning design, created by Thomas, stood out for its brilliant creativity. His panel features a cheerful train illustration with a cut-out face hole, so children can pose as passengers, along with a spinning wheel feature that adds movement and interactivity – the perfect mix of play and imagination.
Involving local school children in the design process was incredibly important to us. It not only gave them a sense of ownership and pride in their new play space, but also helped create a playground that truly reflects the local character and community spirit.
We're proud to have worked in partnership with the school and council on this project, and we hope the children of King’s Lynn enjoy their new play area for many years to come."
