New playground in Chatton officially opened by the Duchess of Northumberland

The local community turned out in force to celebrate the occasion with hot dogs, cakes and live music by Met. Office.

The project has been several years in the making.

The proposal was first revealed in 2018 when it went through the planning stage, equipment firm Streetscape was brought in and fundraising began.

The Covid pandemic put the project on hold for a couple of years but fundraising began again in 2022 with grants secured from Red Socks Charitable Trust, Lottery Awards For All, James Knott Trust, Barmoor Wind Farm, The Rank Foundation and raised the remaining funds from very generous donations from local councillors Murray, Thorne and Mather as well as NE Autistic Society, Chatton Angling Society, Gilbert Birdsall, Chatton Capital LT, Williamson’s Tea and private donors.

A GoFundMe page was set up in 2023 for the final push and raised nearly £4,000.

The playground was installed by Streetscape with the help from local businesses, Adam Wilson Groundworks, Dougie Redpath, HPHP and Kezz Stone giving time and helping with the ground works last October.

This project couldn’t have happened without the support of the community and the Village Hall Trustees would like to thank everyone who donated and helped at the opening.

An open day was also held to celebrate the village hall heritage project funded by Community Action Northumberland.

The project involved oral recordings of local memories and collecting archive material.

Lots of local people attended and looked at archive photographs of when the hall was the village school, dating back to Edwardian times.

The oldest living pupil, Ted Field - who attended the school in 1931 and left aged 14 – was also present.

The youngest pupil, Georgia Foulis, who was the last pupil on the school register in 2007, also attended. She arrived at four years old and left when the school closed six months later.

Also on display from the The Woodhorn Archives were the tawse (the leather punishment belt), the school banner, the school bell and a log book dating back to 1918.

The oral history memories were played on a sound loop and can be accessed via the Chatton Village Hall Facebook page.

Many of the local community enjoyed visiting, including past pupils and teachers.