LEISURE: Thousands enjoy National Playday in Yeovil

THOUSANDS of families descended on Yeovil for free fun including tree climbing, water wars and circus skills at the annual National Playday.

The annual National Playday event – which is organised and funded by the Community Health & Leisure Team at South Somerset District Council –offered a huge variety of activities and experiences for children and young people across South Somerset and beyond.

The flat grassy area at Yeovil Country Park was a mass of happy faces and families on Wednesday (August 3, 2016) as they enjoyed thrills including scaling the mobile climbing wall, stroking giant snakes and boarding a fire engine alongside more simple pleasures like toasting marshmallows.

One of the mums enjoying the free fun was Emma Holmes who said: “It was a lovely day. Thank you for all your hard work to provide a great day spent with my family.”

Organiser Robert Parr, South Somerset District Council’s senior play and youth facilities officer, said: “Firstly I must thank Yeovil Town Council for their financial help towards this event.

“This was our 11th National Playday and the number of people there just shows that they are growing in popularity every year. During 2016, South Somerset District Council is organising Playdays in 14 communities and providing a small grant to help six other locations to organise their own event.

“The idea is to provide an excellent range of challenging and unusual free play activities for local children to enjoy. With so many communities having a Playday there will be free fun near most families in South Somerset.”

The council’s leisure and culture spokesman, Cllr Sylvia Seal, added: “This is part of our ongoing work to increase and improve play opportunities for children in the district.

“To get 6,000 visitors is a staggering number and everyone helped to create a special atmosphere.

“Thousands of people have already attended our Playdays this summer. These events not only offer families an exciting range of free activities but are also a great way of bringing communities together.”

To find your nearest Playday visit www.southsomerset.gov.uk/playdays or go to the Facebook page www.facebook.com/PlayYouthSouthSomerset .

PHOTOS: Submitted by South Somerset District Council.

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Leisure.