A PARENTS group which has raised £16,000 is ‘determined to overcome the obstacles’ to fund a disability play centre in Hyndburn.

Play4uz2 aims to provide a specialist playground for children with disabilities and special educational needs and is looking to raise a £1million for the site at Hyndburn Leisure Centre.

Earlier this year the group were refused funding from the Department for Education and have so far been unsuccessful in gathering larger funding.

However, the group, who is working with Hyndburn Leisure Trust to achieve its target, is holding its first big fundraising event with a family fun day at Oak Hill Park on Saturday, May 27.

Organiser Sarah Lewis hopes that this will be the start of the next step for the project.

Miss Lewis, 41, said: “We’ve not set an exact target for the event, we just want to raise as much money as possible.

“We’ve been trying to get a big event like this sorted for some time, hopefully it can kick start the fundraising.

“We will get there one way or another, it’s a big target and we haven’t had any large funding so far, but that’s an obstacle we will overcome.

“I’m determined, all children need somewhere they can play.”

The mother-of-two was inspired to start the project, along with fellow mum Maxine Johnson, after she was unable to find an appropriate playarea for her eight-year-old son Oliver, who sufferers from a rare chromosome disorder called ‘13q34’.

The pair are part of the Hyndburn Parents and Carers group and have showcased their plans to the council.

The family fun day, which will run from 10am until 3pm, will feature circus skills, bouncy castles, rides, entrainment and an appearance from Accrington Stanley club mascot Winstanley.

Miss Lewis has said that she expects around 1,000 people to turn up to the event.

She said: ““We need to get somewhere that children with disabilities can play with no sense of danger.

“It can be somewhere where they can have a bit of independence.

“It would be a first for Lancashire and something that is badly needed.”

The group's £16,000 total was through a series of events around Hyndburn.