Broughton Primary pupils set to climb to new heights
Monday, November 17 2008
Pupils at Broughton Primary School, near Biggar, are set to climb to new heights now that a traversing wall has been installed at the school.
The wall was funded by a grant of £9,756 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme, and has been installed in an open shelter in the playground for use by school pupils and the wider Broughton community. The grant also covered the cost of training for staff and pupils in the use of the wall.
The traversing wall was installed by specialist company, Extreme Dream, based in Aviemore, who completed the work in just four days and nights.
The wall features 11 decorated panels with climbing holds, including holds for community members with additional needs. A protective fall surface has been installed throughout the floor of the shelter.
The Lord Lieutenant of Tweedddale, Captain David Younger, and mountaineer Graeme Morrison conducted the official opening ceremony today (Monday) and former pupil, Joe Evans, whose idea inspired the wall, cut the ribbon.
SBC’s Executive Member for Education, Councillor Catriona Bhatia, said: “The community in Broughton and Upper Tweed continue to show that where they identify a need they also take positive steps to provide the solution. They can be rightly proud of their achievement in providing this excellent new activity for the children at Broughton school and other members of the community who are looking for a new challenge!"
Training on the use of the wall is being undertaken by Peebles based mountaineer, Graeme Morrison, of GM Mountaineering. Training will involve basic wall skills followed by a rolling programme throughout the school year when pupils will have the opportunity to progress to bronze, silver and gold awards.
Headteacher Maureen Sharp said: “The traversing wall is a great facility for both the school and the community. We are very excited at the prospect of having training and allowing our pupils to have the opportunity to enjoy the challenges of using the wall. We are grateful for the work done by parents to secure the wall for Broughton Primary, and in particular to Kirsty Stevens who worked tirelessly on the grant application and organised the work with Extreme Dream who were a very professional company to work with. We would like to thank Awards for All for the grant which has given us the opportunity to provide this facility and we look forward to exploring more ways of working with our community.”
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