A charity has received a generous donation from the outgoing Town Mayor, following a year of fundraising.

More than £3000 has been given to The Southdown Play Areas Working Group (SPAWG), a charity that focuses on refurbishing children’s playgrounds in the Harpenden area.

Harpenden Mayor, Brian Ellis, chose SPAWG as one of the charity’s to support during his mayoral year which has just ended and managed to raise £3,358 through holding events during his time in office.

Local residents and St Albans district council have been working on the project. They successfully reopened Oakley Road Playground in early spring after a revamp that included the installation of a brand-new slide. They will use the money to improve a play area near Parva Close and are continuing to fundraise for the project, Glyn Goodwin, co-chair of SPAWG, said: “We are very grateful indeed to Cllr Brian Ellis for making SPAWG one of his charities in his mayoral year of office.

“His sponsorship meant we could really get the fundraising off to an amazing start, but it also gave our little charity the publicity it needed to make the people of Harpenden aware of what we are trying to achieve in these two play areas.

“Stage one was Oakley Road, we are now, thanks to this extra cheque, getting the fundraising for the next stage off to a good start also.”

To become a volunteer or for more information, visit www.southdownplayareas.weebly.com