A SCHEME which allowed 24,000 children to play in the great outdoors may have to be scrapped because of lack of cash.

 

Over the past five years, The Jeely Piece Club has been awarded £440,000 of Scottish Government money to fund the play scheme.

That has now come to an end and organisers fear youngsters will no longer be able to enjoy fun in the fresh air.

The Jeely Piece Club is part of a group which organised the clean up of Castlemilk Wood which was previously a no-go area as it was strewn with broken glass and litter and was a haven for anti-social behaviour.

Following the transformation, the Castlemilk charity devised a scheme which involved taking groups of children into the woods where they could climb trees, wade in streams and enjoy mudslides.

It proved so popular that thousands of youngsters aged between four and 12 from across the city took part with many playing outside for the first time.

Tracy Black, director of services at the Jeely Piece Club said: "We have been funded for five years by Inspiring Scotland through Scottish Government money to provide outdoor play to children in Castlemilk but have come to the end of the funding cycle.

"The money allowed us to employ three permanent staff and to take children out into the woods where they built dens, went on mud slides, played in the water and climbed trees.

"Kids loved it and schools would bring classes of kids every day to what is now a beautiful wood with water running through it.

"There are kids who have never been in an outdoor environment because their parents were nervous of taking them out to the community wood in case they got hurt.

"However children will manage their own risk which is one of the things we teach them and in the five years the scheme was running, not one child got hurt.

"One boy who suffered from asthma found his symptoms eventually reduced dramatically.

"We got £100,000 in the first two years and £80,000 in the following three years and while Inspiring Scotland was great, unfortunately the money has come to an end."

Ms Black has applied to Children in Need for a grant of £120,000 over three years in a bid to keep the scheme running and is waiting to hear if she has been successful.

If the Jeely Piece Club does get the cash it will be able to run the outdoor play scheme for 2500 children a year from June.