Upgrade Your Playground This Summer

With the summer holidays finally upon us, teachers and students alike finally get the time to enjoy the sunshine and plan for the future term. Bridge Timber recognises this as the ideal period for schools to upgrade and refine their playground facilities for a new year of children to enjoy. So you can get your playground looking its best, we are currently running a very special summer sale with extensive discounts on our best selling playground equipment and shelters. Installation will take place over the summer break, not only saving you money but the hassle of term time interference!

All our equipment is built to be hard wearing and durable with ruthless health and safety regulations adhered to every step of the way. Bridge Timber is also proud to bare numerous accreditations from respected affiliates such as Action for Children, Criminal Records Bureau, ROSPA and the Forest Stewardship Council. You can explore our full accreditations list here.

For examples of our previous work, check out our successful projects below...

• Compact Hexagonal Shelter

Our hexagonal shelters are ideal for communal lessons, sheltered play or as a waiting area for early parents looking to pick their kids up from school.

• Elmhurst Primary Playground Makeover

Back in December 2013 Bridge Timber were commissioned to design and install a completely new playground for Elmhurst Primary. The resulting effort turned out to be one of our most colourful and diverse playgrounds yet.

• London Climbing Frame

Bridge Timber also works directly with clients to create bespoke climbing frames. The below example was designed and fitted to fit the specific requirements of a London based school. Both a Sherwood and Deleware frame were installed including slides, scramble nets, monkey bars, trapeze swings, tunnels, stairs and a fireman’s pole. 

To get in touch about our services please don’t hesitate to call our West Yorkshire office on 01422 832863.

Funding Options for School Playgrounds

We all want the best for our children and everyone knows play is an essential part of a child’s development.  It has been proven that physical activity improves learning and brain development so active children are happy children! It should naturally follow that all schools are able to provide spacious and high quality play areas for their pupils, but we know that in the current financial climate finding the money for a project like this may seem like a daunting task.

Therefore, we at Bridge Timber have done the research for you. The information below outlines some of the different types of financial help that is available. This list is not exhaustive and we often find that schools fund their playground project using a combination of PTA fundraising, pupil/ sports premium and grants.

We hope the below information will help you towards making your dream playground a reality.

• Awards For All

Awards for All provides Lottery grants of between £300 and £10,000. They fund projects which address the needs of local communities. Applications need to be submitted 4 months in advance of anticipated project start date.

• The Asda Foundation

Schools can apply for funding for local projects. Potential applicants should contact their local Store or Depot in the first instance.

• Woodenspoon

Woodenspoon fund life-changing projects across the UK and Ireland to support disadvantaged and disabled children.

• Grants4Schools

The Grants4Schools website is aimed at providing information on grant funding and sponsorship sources relevant to primary, secondary and special schools within both the state and independent sectors.

Many schools that we have worked with subsidise their grant with fundraising. Your PTA will be a great source of ideas and help with this. Some schools have appointed a Fundraising Group to drive the project and keep it on track. These groups are often a mixture of parents, teachers and school governors who are keen to get involved in bid writing and event organising. We also find that it is really good to keep parents informed at each step of the way through a school newsletter or via the school website.

Here are some fundraising ideas that have worked well for our clients in the past: 

• School Discos
• Sponsored run/ cycle ride
• School world cup
• Teacher and pupil challenges
• Cake Sale
• School fair
• Fancy dress/ wear own clothes/pyjama day

And for further inspiration have a look at this amazing Pinterest board to see what other schools are doing to raise funds for things like Playground Equipment.  


If you’d like to speak to our friendly team at Bridge Timber for a free estimate please call us on 01422 832863 and we will be happy to help. 

You can also find Bridge Timber on Facebook and Twitter.