Quaker Oats, based at Uthrogle Mills, Cupar has delivered a much-needed facelift to the local primary school playground in nearby Springfield. This work forms part of Quaker’s commitment to having a positive impact on the local community and builds on a number of other initiatives including support for charities including Magic Breakfast and the Big Hoose.
The school had already benefited from new games for the children from Quaker for its Magic Breakfast club. After colleagues from Quaker consulted with the school, it was decided to refurbish the playground. Amanda Douglas and Jane Leslie led a group of 24 volunteers who spent four days during the school summer holidays painting line markings, fences, gates and the building. One of Quaker’s on-site contractors, Colorado, got involved too and created a new flower and vegetable bed for the children and created a small garden which the Quaker team planted up.
Amanda Douglas said, “The school had a model train which the children loved to play on, however it was past it best and Colorado offered to fix it, but it was so badly rotten they built a new one for us and again the Quaker team painted it. They needed new benches as their ones had deteriorated beyond repair, so we replaced them with two new picnic tables, a bench and a buddy bench. We also noticed that there was no shade for the children on a sunny day, so we added a couple of parasols as well for the picnic tables. It gave us, as a team of volunteers, much pleasure in carrying out this project for the local school.”
Springfield Primary head teacher, Miss Louise Rennie commented, “We are very grateful to the Quaker team and Colorado for creating such a special playground for the children. It makes such a difference to play time with the freshly painted, bright coloured markings and new equipment. The creation of a flower and herb garden will be so educational for the children. It’s wonderful to have a major employer in the area, who cares enough to put back time and effort to the local community.”
