£84k games area to open in East Huntspill (From This is The West Country)

£84k games area to open in East Huntspill

5:00pm Tuesday 12th March 2013 in News By Kirsty James

AN £84,000 games area in East Huntspill is set to officially open next week.

The new Multi Use Games Area (MUGA), built on East Huntspill playing field, will open with a host of activities on Saturday, March 23.

The parish council secured funding for the project from Sedgemoor District Council’s RLT3 and RLT2 funding from local property developers.

It features unusual kick-wall games such as Street Snooker and Street Pool, created by Playinnovation.

Valerie Shellard, chairman of East Huntspill Parish Council, told the Weekly News: “This MUGA is quite unique because it has kick-wall games, which teach children coordination and numeracy skills.

“They kick or throw the ball onto numbered snooker or pool ball images to score points. It’s competitive but good fun.

“I think we’re the first group in the UK to set up Street Pool. I saw a demo and thought ‘that’s what we need in the village’.”

She said the village’s previous play equipment was out of date and the parish council had waited almost two years to see the project become a reality.

“We have gone from just having a playing field, to establishing clubs and now setting up this facility,” she added.

“The field is a big part of the community and children who have used the MUGA have described it as ‘magic’. That’s something to be proud of.”

Sedgemoor District Council praised the parish council for creating ‘such a state of the art play area’.

The play area will be officially opened on March 23 at 1pm. Activities will start from 11am.