Bournemouth | Posted on October 27th, 2025 | return to news

Swashbuckling fun in Queen’s Park play area in Bournemouth

The Woodpecker Play Area has been refurbished, and the launch event is taking place at 10am on Tuesday 28 October.

Children and young people now have the chance to enjoy some swashbuckling fun as a new and improved play area has opened at Queen’s Park.

The official launch event takes place at 10am on Tuesday 28 October when youngsters will be able to get a first taste of the new equipment.

Queen’s Park will be offering 10 per cent off all food and drinks at the event in both the golf shop and café.

Work has been carried out to repair the existing fort structure using recycled plastic and groyne timbers alongside a new multi-play climbing frame and replacement swings. An access ramp has also been repaired.

Decking for the fort and access ramp has been made from roughly 450,000 recycled plastic bottles, while felled trees that were dead or dangerous have been repurposed into four new balance beams, and the wobble bridge is back in full glory.

Cllr Sandra Moore, portfolio holder with responsibility for Play Strategy at BCP Council, said: “This is a fantastic example of how collaboration between passionate councillors and community groups can help deliver for residents.

“The benefits of play are so much more than just in the moment — it’s the freedom of learning and growing outside of school, and it’s so important we provide those same building blocks for development to future generations.

“I’m really pleased to see this exciting new chapter for Queen’s Park come to fruition and this is just the start — our greenspaces team are hard at work putting play areas back at the heart of local communities across our towns.”

Improvements have been made possible thanks to a £73,000 grant from Veolia Environmental Trust’s Landfill Communities Fund, alongside funding from the BCP Plan for Play, getting to work to ensure the play area, cafe, and toilets are inclusive for the whole community. 

Working in partnership with Queen’s Park and Charminster Neighbourhood Forum, feedback from a public consultation helped deliver a successful funding bid.

The consultation highlighted the importance of the Woodpecker Play Area to the wider community — with 99.7 per cent of respondents saying the place was an important local facility.

Cllr Alasdair Keddie, ward councillor for Queen’s Park, said: “I am delighted that the Woodpecker Play Area is re-opening, bigger, better and with more fun equipment for the children to engage with. This has been a brilliant community partnership between BCP Council and the Queen’s Park & Charminster Neighbourhood Forum.

“Securing extra grant funding from the Veolia Community Trust was a vital part of this and I’m pleased to have been able to bring that to the table. This really shows what can be achieved when we work together.”