VILLAGERS in the Ribble Valley are celebrating the completion of a new play area they helped to build with a mammoth fundraising effort.

Residents in Dunsop Bridge helped to make around £70,000 in just two years to pay for the new facility, which has been created to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

Dunsop Bridge Jubilee Play Area, next to Thorneyholme RC School, has even been constructed on royal land and is said to stand almost at the exact centre of the kingdom.

The new facility is a focal point for the village and marked the Queen's Golden Jubilee. The Queen owns much of the land in and around Dunsop Bridge, including where the play area is sited.

The project has provided toddler and junior play facilities and a hard court surface area for village youths to undertake wheeled activities away from the school, as well as a picnic area for Dunsop Bridge families and the increasing number of tourists to the area.

To mark the completion, Ribble Valley Council also donated cycle racks to the new facility, along with cash towards the villagers' fundraising appeal.

Rosemary Elms, Ribble Valley councillor for Bowland, Newton and Slaidburn and vice-chairman of council's community committee, said: "Dunsop Bridge is a small rural village and the new recreational facilities are vital for the physical, educational and social welfare of local young people.

"Villagers are to be congratulated for working so hard to bring the play area to fruition"

The new facility comes just two weeks after Ribble Valley council started £70,000 work on Brungerley Park in neighbouring Clitheroe.

The six-month scheme will see the restoration of gates, improved signs, repairs to walls and paths and a disabled parking scheme.

The park improvements, which have cost the same amount as the play area, will also see the creation of new park features, such as a wildflower meadow.