Launch of playbus and playtruck at Bristol Playday

Release Date:  04-Aug-2008

Thousands of children from across the city will be at College Green on Wednesday 6th August to take part in the annual celebration of play, sponsored nationally by Persil.

This year, playday aims to reverse the decline of adventurous play opportunities and highlights the need for children to experience challenging play, to ensure that they are better equipped at managing risk in their daily lives.

At Bristol's playday, a brand new playbus and playtruck will be unveiled. Funded in part by money from the Big Lottery Fund's Children's Play Programme, the double decker bus and mobile music suite will be able to take exciting play opportunities, such as cooking on open fires, den building, geodomes, environmental play, and arts and crafts, into parks, schools, and areas of the city where children may not have access to such exciting play opportunities.

New experiences

Deputy Leader of Bristol City Council and Executive Member for Cohesion and Raising Achievement, Councillor Peter Hammond, said: “The safety of children at play is a vital consideration, but I believe that it should not limit their experience. Children can open themselves up to greater learning experiences by taking risks in play. It is our job to ensure that the environments we create for play are both challenging and stimulating.”

Activities on College Green, from 12 noon to 4pm, include sliding, climbing, swinging, dancing, balancing, canoeing, riding, creating, laughing, dreaming, taking risks, getting wet and making friends.

Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund's Head of Region for the South West, said: “Play is such an essential part of growing up and has a huge bearing on a child's physical, emotional and social development. It's great that these new play facilities are now ready for action and will be able to reach out to children right across the city.”

Margaret Taylor, 86, who helped establish the original playbus in 1975, said: “Every young person in Bristol should experience the playbus at some point in their childhood. It has delighted generations and I'm thrilled to see the ideas behind playbus go from strength to strength.”

Author:  Katharine de Lisle

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