FOLLOWING the closure of Bentley playground, village school children are taking action to raise the funds to get it renovated and reopened.

To that end, they are organising a three-mile sponsored walk on Saturday around Mill Farm.

They are £30,000 short of the amount needed to get the condemned play equipment overhauled and safe for playing. The new designs are all complete but, until the money is raised, the playground will remain closed.

Two children, Archer Phillips and Isobel Soden, have raised almost £2,000 walking and completing a muddy obstacle course respectively, but it is still a Herculean task to get the funds together.

Half a dozen Reception and Year 1 children from Bentley Primary are already signed up for the Little Legs Take Action Stride Out, but the organisers are calling for as many as possible to come along on the day to support them. The fundraisers will head off at 2.30pm. To sponsor them, visit mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/yrs1andrbentley.