Location: Snell's Hall
Opening of Penney Playpark
A Millennium project was brought to completion when Lady Penney, now 95, returned to the village with her family ( four generations) to formally open the Penney Playpark in Snells on Sunday Oct.1st. The Penneys lived in the village for over 30 years and Lady Penney left in 1998 to live near her son in London. Lord Penney died in 1991 and a year later Lady Penney gave a generous donation to the Parish Council to establish a children's play-park in memory of her husband.
At the time she said "Bill loved children and always found them much easier company than their elders". Lady Penney played a full part in village life when she lived here, as a regular churchgoer, President of the Playgroup, and involved with many other organisations.
The donation came at a very opportune time as the land on which the main village playground was sited was taken over for development of affordable housing (six houses in Smith's Rickyard and opened in 1993). Finding a suitable site for the new playground has taken much time and about two years ago the Hendred Estate agreed to lease land in Snells to the Parish Council for the Playpark.
Additional funding mainly from the Vale District Council, and with some support from the Parish Council, has enabled the project to go ahead. We are pleased that it has been very much a community project with voluntary help from many village people, on design and planning (Stuart Borland) , infilling and levelling the site using heavy machinery (David McDowell), and general preparation and landscaping the area. This has included professional services, use of heavy earth moving equipment, as well as effort from many individuals helping to clear and seed the land. The play equipment is built mainly in wood to meet the requirements of the planning authority, with the site being right in the middle of the village conservation area. Surrounding the play equipment is an area for children to play ball games, which has recently been grassed, and should be ready next Spring.
Dr. John Sharp, the Chairman of the Parish Council, welcomed Lady Penney back to the village, thanked her for her generous gift, presented her with a floral arrangement and invited her to formally open the Playpark. Lady Penney cut the ribbon across the gate to the park and unveiled a plaque commemorating the opening, with the wording 'Penney Playpark - opened by Lady Penney on Oct.1st 2000' She enjoyed having her photograph taken for the local newspaper with lots of village children in the background. The completion of the Playpark is one of the last Millennium projects for the village and Lady Penney planted a tree to commemorate this.
There is some additional planting in the area around the play equipment, undertaken by the Vale District Council, which will be completed by Spring 2001.