Let the play at Chippenham begin (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Let the play at Chippenham begin

4:00pm Friday 2nd November 2012 in News By Anne Moore

Overgrown land at the back of a Chippenham children’s centre has been transformed into a sensory garden.

The land at Rise Children’s Centre, The Oaks, was unusable until Chippenham furniture company Herman Miller offered to help restore it.

It gave the centre a grant to buy equipment for the garden and about 20 volunteers from the company, including spouses, went along to clear it.

Four parents from the centre also held a cake sale and a white elephant stall to raise money for wind chimes, chalk boards and other items.

Although the garden was finished a few months ago, staff and children celebrated its official opening on Wednesday last week.

The centre, located next to St Paul’s Primary School, opened five years ago and caters for children from birth to age 16. It holds daily sessions for parents and children, a holiday club, and organises visits from health workers and midwives.

Julie Swales, from The Rise Trust, said the centre was grateful to Herman Miller and its staff for making the garden possible.

She said: “We just want to make the centre the best we can for our clients and we now have this beautiful brightly coloured useable space. We’re absolutely delighted with it, it was a wilderness before.”

Herman Miller spokesman Bronagh Day said the company aims to help out in the community at least once or twice a year.

She said: “It was a worthy cause and it gives us an opportunity to work together as a team for the good of the community. It was hard work but it was very enjoyable and very rewarding. We just asked for volunteers so anybody could come.”