Families in Seaton are celebrating the village’s new £56,000 multi use games area (MUGA) with an official opening and demonstrations from local community groups at 11am on Saturday (March 18).

Near the children’s play area and the entrance to Seaton Valley Countryside Park, the new MUGA provides a safe fenced area for people of all ages to play football, volleyball, basketball and tennis.

Deviock Innovation Group has been the driving force behind the new facilities, working closely with their local Cornwall councillor, parish council, the community and the local primary school. The community group was started in 2009 by three friends who wanted to improve facilities in Seaton, Downderry and the rest of Deviock Parish.

Caroline Whitley, one of the founding members, said: ’We’re all parents of young children and we were concerned that the existing area for ball games wasn’t very safe and was quite often full of cars as it was also used as an overflow car park. 

’We thought that if we got together and started the group we would be able to make the area safer and a much nicer area for children to play.’

Funding for the scheme came from a £50,000 grant from the Viridor Credits scheme, which supports community, heritage and biodiversity projects.  

Bond Hire agreed to donate some of the equipment needed to make the site safe while the work to transform it took place. 

The local community also rallied round to donate money and support fund-raising such as a masked ball and a quiz night. 

WH Bond and Roy Davey Contractors also stepped in to cover extra costs that arose when it was found the tarmac that had to be removed was deeper than originally anticipated.