Given the amount of rain that has fallen in early 2014, it was uplifting to witness blue skies and sunshine greet the opening of Oram's Arbour Playspace in Winchester recently.
The £45,000 scheme resulted from a five company tender in the summer of last year; eibe winning through because Susan Lord, Head of Landscape and Open Spaces at Winchester County Council, preferred the company's design and schools that were consulted liked the broad age range covered by the eibe product offering.
Work began around the busy festive period amid torrential storms and the eibe installation team had their work cut out remaining upright at certain stages. But with immense fortitude and commitment to the cause, the project was completed in February with a welcome and timely upturn in weather conditions.
All the old eibe equipment from a previous project at the turn of the century was removed and replaced with some brand new items from the company's product portfolio.
A centrepiece Train is surrounded by an Aba Tawa climbing unit, Toddler and Nest Swings, a bespoke climbing spiders web, (the only one in the UK), as well as a climbing mound and slide, a satellite carousel, a stand-up seesaw, spring rockers and a natural log balance beam – a really exceptional variety of play items.
