News
Volunteers work party from the Movement for Good charity.
2025 BOURNSTREAM SPRING NEWSLETTER
Welcome back to the new Bournstream season at the play site!
Our volunteers & supporters have been busy over the winter - to make safety repairs, additions & changes - so do look out for the donkey sculptures with their storyboard, the new nest swing , fencing around the re-filled sand pit & the big blue hammock!
Set out below are the updates & reminders you will need ..
Bournstream re-opens from Saturday, 15th March and the new padlock code is "2904".
We are closed every Monday except Bank Holidays - for essential maintenance jobs & safety.
Always lock gates immediately behind you.
Take all rubbish & nappies away when you leave.
Please put vehicles away under cover.
Contact us with any safety or other concerns via the website.
Do not leave us any toys or trikes without asking us please.
Give others space, respect & peace on the play site.
As we are not a staffed project all the safeguarding aspects are down to you & also staying safe in what you allow your child to do.
Full supervision is your sole responsibility.
As we are often busy please come in just one car to allow space for other families to park too.
Our finances, as we begin this season, are low, so if you want to make a donation our bank details are -
"Bournstream Trust for the disabled" at Lloyds Bank, Account number - 02622431 Sort code - 30-98-29.
Please use the reference "2025 donation" & your surname - our Gift Aid form is on our website to print/send us too.
Many thanks if you can help us top up the funds, every little helps.
Bournstream has amazing help from our team of volunteers & generous donations from community supporters.
Our aim every season is to provide a safe, accessible & enjoyable outdoor space for your child or children to be themselves.
If your contact details change please do let us know.
Last season our volunteers spent unnecessary time clearing up rubbish left on the play site, including old nappies left behind, & putting play equipment away under cover, when it was left out in the rain.
You can always message us at info@bournstream.org.
Please leave everything as you hope to find it!
We hope you continue to enjoy and value Bournstream as the "safe adventure" it has always been - allowing your child to be themselves, to play and be out in nature.
The Bournstream Trustees, Committee and volunteers
March 1st, 2025
"It's been such an amazing place to enjoy as a family - without the usual stress."
Lottie
Special THANKS must go to all our volunteers as well as to so many loyal groups & supporters:
- Wotton Lions Club, & Geoff Richardson, for major repairs on site over the winter.
- Rotary Club of Dursley, & Graham Peake, for new deckchairs & bean bags.
- Community Men's Shed for bird nest boxes.
Both Renishaw plc & The Barnwood Trust continue to provide us with essential grants to maintain & enhance the play site as do The 1970 Trust, London, & the Edith Strain Nursing Trust, Wotton.
This season we extend special thanks to the Gloucestershire Freemasons, Lodge of Grace, Wotton, for their generous fundraising donation to our project.
We also thank Steve Wytchard for outdoor paints & Ian Pullen for bark & play sand.
So many people give, in different ways, to support us & we thank them all for their help, money & encouragement!
FINALLY..
Sending our best wishes & hope you can come and play again together soon, from all of us at Bournstream ps. bring your own sunshine!
"Bournstream enable us to spend time together outside, where my son and daughter are happiest - and we can meet other families who are in a similar position."
Kelly & family
Some useful Reminders
Following a serious road accident near the lay-by we need to remind everyone using the play site to always park inside the main gate, in our car park, for safety.
Bournstream continues to flourish - with amazing support & lots of demand - but we do sometimes need to give everyone some important reminders!
Over safety, we have created a bit more safe parking inside our boundary - please always come in to park there - & be really careful if turning right on to the main road when leaving.
Our numbered padlocks cost £17 each - so please look after them & ensure they don't get played with or dropped. (for adult use only there are always some spare padlocks up behind the toilet house door, to replace a broken one for safety please.) Every season it takes time & money to sort out odd bits of damage (or stuff going missing ) - so we would rather everyone was honest enough to let us know, then it's not so horrid for others arriving to find things wrong.
Bournstream runs entirely on donations so we need to spend wisely & make it go further!
Supervising all those children in your care includes you opening the toilet house & supervising there too.
Special school groups & parties are also given these notes to abide by - sorry to sound fussy but we really do need everyone's help.
Always close & lock the gates behind you straight away & report any problems over padlocks.
Take your rubbish away with you & leave things tidy & the vehicles under cover please.
"It was lovely to see all the improvements that have been made to the playground since we have last visited, and how much the trees, planted in memory of Ben, have grown. It is still an amazing place, thanks to all your hard work and dedication, and we are sure Barbara Saxton would be so proud to see it as it is today."
New season THANKS
Every season at Bournstream we must thank a wide variety of local groups, individual donors & loyal supporters for their contributions - in every way imaginable - in donating their time, skills & money.
Many people champion the play site with their fundraising or recommend it to their company or friends to donate to.
But of course lots of people give to us in very different ways.. ..from the Cotswold Wardens laying hedges, the Round Tablers planting trees, to the Scouts shifting 2 tonnes of play sand, a Dad fixing the road gate with his welding or the joining volunteers showing new families over.
Our team of volunteers welcome new members, coordinate the day-to-day running, give talks, raise money,cut hedges, mend vehicles, do odd jobs & ensure hundreds of children each year have somewhere unique to come & play! All this helps the play site to continue to provide the "safe adventure" it has always hoped to give to children & young people.
"I would like to thank you all for the many wonderful hours we have spent at Bournstream this year. No matter how many times we visit, or how long we stay, my daughter is never ready to leave!"
Brochure
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"There is a great spirit of giving of time and energy with everyone."
"My younger brother has a few disabilities that are not physical and people will often just tar him with the same brush as a child that is just rude and misbehaved.
It is so nice & relaxing to see him able to play & socialise with other children & also sit in the company of adults that see the real him & do not judge him for his behaviour.
My little brother has found great pleasure whilst playing at Bournstream, to see him so relaxed & at ease is a joyful thing in a world where so many people do not understand - & I greatly thank you all for that."
Leanne writing in 2013 to the Bournstream committee.
The Gallery
I find it very difficult to go to local parks or playgrounds with the boys when I'm on my own.
I was overjoyed at finding at finding Bournstream to be able to take them out - they now have somewhere special to go & all the children can be themselves.
