A board unveiling celebrated the official opening of a brand new games area at Love’s Farm, St Neots that young people from the local area helped to design.

bpha, along with Huntingdonshire District Council worked with young people aged between 5 and 14 to decide on the colours, structure, and style of the new games area. In addition, a competition was held to come up with a logo design for a board at the entrance to the games area.

Now the work is complete and was unveiled for the very first time on 28th July 2011, and the winners of the logo competition – Gabi and Kate Stimson - received a prize.

Katie Baldwin, Community Development Officer for bpha, said: “We knew that we wanted young people to be involved from the beginning so when it was in the design stages, we asked them what they would like to see and what the area should look like. After all, this is their play area and we wanted to do what we could to encourage young people in the community to use it.

“It’s been hard work but we’ve had a lot of fun along the way and I for one can’t wait to see the play area finally in use.

“I can’t thank enough everyone who helped to make this happen.”

The games area has been installed by the operations team at Huntingdonshire District Council and will provide a basketball court and space for ball games along with seating and shelters.

The success of this project has led to further consultations with young people for an additional three play areas at Love’s Farm, with the first of these at Great High Ground opening at the end of August.

Councillor Barry Chapman at the District Council said: “We are working with bpha to build a strong community in the area and are keen to encourage among young people a sense of belonging and identity, which is why we want to continue to involve young people with the design of similar developments in future.”