A GROUP of mums have reached their £40,000 target to rebuild a dilapidated play area behind Heddington Primary School in just five months.

Pennies for Play, headed by Francesca Ovens, Gemma Brown and Lucy Tyler, decided to raise the money back in October after the parish council said they would remove the park as it had fallen into disrepair.

The three mums raised the money through a series of grants as well as an 87 lot auction held at The Ivy Inn on March 18, which raised just over £7,000.

Ms Tyler said: “We are incredibly grateful. We cannot believe the support that we have had. We were getting people ringing us up to donate even on the day of the auction.

“We are absolutely ecstatic and cannot believe that we have raised this money in such a short period of time, we only took it upon ourselves in October last year.

“I think in November we had a meeting to see whether there was a need for it.

“We want to get the playground constructed before the half term in May so that the kids can enjoy it and so they can have it for summer as well."

The campaign for a revamped playground drew support from MP James Gray, who offered a personally conducted tour through Westminster, as well as from several local businesses.

The money gained in the auction was also added to by three grants; The National Lottery Awards for All Grant Scheme, Viridor Credits Main Grants Scheme and the Calne Area Board.

Ms Tyler added: “We were always determined to do it but maybe did not think that it would be done quite so quickly.

“We were absolutely overwhelmed by the amount of support we have received and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped us.

“A lot of people turned out for the auction and lots of different sorts of people not just people with young children.

“It was a lot of fun and there was a really good atmosphere there on the night which is what we were aiming to get.”