RECREATIONAL projects throughout Wotton are receiving a welcome flurry of financial support.

The Bearlands play area project received £2,000, half from the Wotton Lions and half from the Wotton-under-Edge and District Recreational Trust.

Synwell Playing Fields Association also received £998 from the trust.

Cllr Catherine Braun (Green, Wotton-under-Edge) told the Gazette: “I wholeheartedly support the work the Synwell Playing Fields Association and Bearlands Play Area are doing to improve children’s play facilities in our local area.

“It’s really important that children have safe places to play, for their development and health, and to have fun with their friends.”

The money that both organisations received is for new play equipment in an attempt to revitalise the area for the benefit of future generations.

Wotton Lions president, Pat Comer, said: “This project met many of the club’s objectives, in supporting both youth and community development. We are pleased we were able to help.”

The Bearlands Association is looking to replace the tired, worn and partly removed play area, so children in the area have somewhere safe to play.

Chairwoman of the Bearlands association, Jodie McTear, said: “For a small group of neighbours, it is a huge project.

“Many years ago we used to have a climbing frame in the area but it was removed and has not been replaced.

“And the response from the Lions and recreational trust is magnificent and it is great to see how they appreciate what we are trying to do for the area and want to help us.”

Jodie estimates the association needs to raise £50,000. Stroud District Council has agreed to match their funding if they raise £25,000.

Synwell playing field was bought in 1932 with money raised from the community and is run entirely by volunteers.

The field is home to Wotton Rovers Football Club with teams for children and adults, complete with changing facilities and a social club come pavilion.

Chairman of Wotton-under-Edge and District Recreational Trust Jeff Walshe, who has been fundraising for over 40 years, said: “We look for groups of people who have a concrete plan with a beginning, middle and end and especially a completion date.”

“We focus on long-term capital items which ensures that the money we distribute has a long-term effect.”

Wotton under Edge and District Community Recreational Trust was set up by the Town Council in the 1980s to facilitate the Wotton Bowls Club start-up.

The funding is a legacy from the Cinema Project where public money was invested in restoring the Cinema back to life.

Once that was achieved and the Cinema management transferred from a volunteer operation to a commercial operation, residual funds became available for investment in the community via the Trust.

“It’s public money so we want to be very careful about how we use it to invest in the community,” said Jeff.

The trust will give out a maximum of £1,000 to a group and it has selected five this year – 1st Wotton Scouts, Wotton Arts Project, Wotton Community Sports Foundation, Wotton Historical Society and Wotton Youth Liaison.

For more information about Synwell playing field visit @SynwellPlayingField on Facebook, to donate to Bearlands play area go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bearlandspark or for more about the recreational trust e-mail jeff@faimech.freeserve.co.uk or call 01453 843060.