YOUNGSTERS in the Vale village of Badsey have been celebrating a new pirate play area.

The new pocket park has been created on a small area of land to the front of Badsey Remembrance Hall.

It has been designed around a pirate theme and features a range of child-friendly equipment including a climbing frame, a special alligator see-saw and a pirate ship.

The space has also been re-turfed with new landscaping and fences.

Funded by Evesham-based Rooftop Housing Group and the local Badsey and Aldington Parish Council, the play area is all set to become a focal point for the village.

The Remembrance Hall is already a well-used facility with a range of local group and activities based at the site.

The addition of the play area outside now makes it an even more attractive place for families and children to meet and socialise.

Councillor Gary Bailey, chairman of Badsey and Aldington Parish Council, said: "This is a great scheme and a great example of imaginative and innovative partnership working. It also shows that Badsey is a thriving community with lots to offer and the smiling faces of the children are testament to that fact."

In total, the project cost around £55,000 with funding from Rooftop, the Parish Council, and support from Wychavon District Council, and the opportunity Vale of Evesham.

The creation of the new play area results from Rooftop’s aim of identifying small under-used areas of open space that have the potential to be converted into parks for local people.