A fun day of play at King George V Playing Field

Published by Maike Riedel for Circle in Housing and also in Communities

Playday 2012 bringsMoleValleycommunities closer together and highlights the importance of play

Almost half (49 per cent) of parents report that the main barrier to outdoor play is a fear of strangers, while 46 per cent say traffic, and almost a third (31 per cent) highlight fear of accident and injury according to research by Play England.

Dorking Children’s Centre, in partnership with Mole Valley Housing Association, organised a family day in the great outdoors on August 1^st, dedicated to fun and games, to highlight the importance of play. The fun event saw about 300 youngsters and their families took over King George V Playing Fields in Dorking for this year's National Play Day.

Children, families and the wider community all had some quality play time, taking part in an array of free activities. Attractions included a climbing wall, biscuit decorating, face painting, art & crafts, a raffle, hat-making, sports activities, and lots more games for children.

Michelle Mcsorley, Sustainable Communities Manager for Mole Valley Housing Association, part of Circle Housing Group, said: "It’s great to see everyone making the most of the space and playing together.

"Many of our residents have children and we wanted to highlight the importance of taking time for families to play together. Play can have huge benefits in helping to make family relationships stronger, and make it easier to deal with any problems.

“Seeing parents discover their inner child, and strengthen those all important relationships was really satisfying, and we hope that many visitors take this away to add a little more play time into their weekly routine.”

Sarah Hamilton, Children’s Centre Coordinator for Dorking Nursery School/Dorking Rural Sure Start Children’s Centre said: “It was great to see parents and children having lots of fun together, we had a great turn-out, great support from partners and the weather held! The feedback from families has been very positive with parents telling us that they had a fantastic day and their kids loved it. The paper hats were definitely the highlight for the younger ones.”

Cath Prisk, Director of PlayEngland, said: “Play is an essential part of every child's life and is vital to their emotional and physical development. Research shows that, through play, children learn about themselves and the world around them, develop confidence, self-esteem and creativity. We’re asking for everyone to make play a priority for Playday 2012.”

Other partners involved in the event were: Links Partnership, Playlink, LINKS, WEA, Jolly Johns, Friends of King George V playing fields, Dorking Leisure Centre, Friends of Dorking Rural and Surrey Family Information Service.