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Love Lowndes Art Competition – Winners announced

We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Love Lowndes children’s art competition.

As part of the Valentine’s day ‘Show your LOVE for Lowndes Park’ all-schools Mufti Day the children were encouraged to enter an art competition. They were asked to draw a picture on the theme of “Lowndes Park – the green heart of Chesham”.

We were absolutely bowled over by the number and quality of the entries. Children aged 4 to 11 drew amazing pictures that captured their love of play, their joy of green spaces and their sheer excitement about having a new playground. All the judges commented on how impressed they were and humbled they felt by the care and thought the children had put in. It was a wonderful reminder of why, and for whom, we’re doing this.

Keep reading to find out who the winners are!

Huge thanks to the following schools who raised an amazing £1,255 on the mufti day and/or entered the art competition:

  • Chartridge Combined School
  • Newtown School
  • Waterside Primary Academy
  • Ivingswood Academy
  • Elmtree School (and Nursery)
  • Brushwood Junior School
  • Hawridge and Cholesbury CE School
  • The Beacon School
  • Chesham Preparatory School
  • Thomas Harding Junior School

The Prizes:

WINNERS:
At the entrance to our new playground (due to be built by the end of March 2025), we will have a ‘heroes’ board celebrating all the key sponsors, businesses and groups that have donated to make the new park a reality. On that board we have set aside two spaces for the winning artwork from our two age groups. It will be up in the park for at least 10 years!

RUNNERS UP:
The runners up will be offered the chance to help build the new Bug Hotel in the playground. The build will happen on Sunday 23rd March led by local children’s environmental group Nature Club.

All the winners and runners up will be invited to a VIP play party on the 23rd March where they will be the first children to play in the new playground!

The winners

Age 4-7 category

WINNER

Kaith, Aged 7, Brushwood Junior School

Runners up:

Tia, Aged 5, Chesham Preparatory School

Ayvah, Aged 4, Chesham Preparatory School

Cherry, Aged 6, Hawridge & Cholesbury CE School

 

Age 8-11 Category

WINNER

Matilda, Aged 10, Chartridge Combined School

 

Runners up:

Aanah, Aged 9, Ivingswood Academy

Annabelle, Aged 11, Hawridge & Cholesbury CE School

Vaia, Aged 8, Chesham Preparatory School

 

We cannot overstate how impressed we all were with the entries. Love Lowndes is working on a way to create an exhibition in Chesham to share the amazing work with the community.

All the Ts&Cs in case you’re interested!

The rules:

  • Each entry must be by one child only.
  • It must be drawn on the A4 paper template supplied as the winning images will be square.
  • The child’s name, age and school must be included on the template.
  • Drawings and paintings only – no collage or photographs.
  • The Love Lowndes team will collect all pictures to be submitted at the end of the school day on 14/02/25.
  • The Love Lowndes team will choose two winners:
    • Age 4-7 category
    • Age 8-11s category
  • We will contact the winners to gain approval of the parents for inclusion on the board on Monday 17th February.
  • We will publicly announce the winners by 1st March 2025.
  • The artwork and interpretation board will be unveiled at the new playground grand opening on the 29th March 2025. Winners will be invited to attend.

 

The judging process:

  • All entries were collated by Claire Wyatt (Chair of Love Lowndes) after the deadline of 14/02/2025.
  • Claire sorted the entries into age groupings and delivered them to Louise Hayday (CEO of Chesham Town Council).
  • Louise ‘blind’ judged each age group (only looking at drawings and not names/schools) to create a long-list for each age category.
  • The long-list entries were given back to Claire to redact names and schools details, photograph them and send to a small group from the Love Lowndes committee.
  • This small group then voted for their favourite in each age category and the image with the most votes became the finalist in each age category.
  • Claire then sent the finalists to the full Love Lowndes WhatsApp committee for final judging.
  • The final was judged in the agreed 4-7 age group and the 8-11 age group.
  • There were clear winners in both age groups. Claire Wyatt did not vote at any stage as she was the only one who may have seen names/schools.

 

Love Lowndes raise over £220,000 for new playground in Lowndes Park

The new £220,000 playground will be completed in Lowndes Park by March 2025!

Love Lowndes, a project set up by Friends of Lowndes Park in partnership with Chesham Town Council (CTC), is delighted to announce that a new playground in Lowndes Park, Chesham will open in March 2025.

After two years of fundraising, Love Lowndes have raised over £220,000 to build a brand new 5-11 years playground in Lowndes Park. The minimum fundraising target was £150,000, so the final total means that the group have been able to invest in a diverse range of exciting play equipment to suit children of all ages and abilities.

A formal tender process was conducted by Chesham Town Council during autumn 2024 to appoint a contractor to build the playground, and in consultation with Love Lowndes, a contractor was selected and a playground design approved in December 2024. The new playground will be positioned adjacent to the existing playground (which is aimed at younger children) and the build is set to begin on 20th January 2025.

The final design for the new playground has been inspired by the unique history and geography of Chesham, and the equipment has been carefully selected to be fun, sustainable, inclusive and safe.

How did they do it?

Of the total funds raised, CTC contributed £35,500 towards the playground, and the remaining money was found through a wide range of local fundraising activities within the community, successful grant applications and corporate sponsorship. A special thanks to the following organisations and businesses for their donations:

Love Lowndes Corporate Sponsors:

A full list of all organisations and businesses who contributed towards the new playground will be published on the Friends of Lowndes Park website after the playground has opened to the public.

Speaking about the project, Claire Wyatt, Chair of Love Lowndes commented:

“I am so incredibly proud of the amazing team of volunteers that have worked tirelessly over the last two years to make our dream of a new playground for the children of Chesham come true.

It’s been an incredible journey that has involved the whole community. From comedy nights at The Elgiva, our lovely Pumpkin Parade in Lowndes Park and local groups like the Squirrel Scouts and Brownies doing sponsored activities in the community, to the all-schools mufti day and our buy a brick in the park pathway campaign; the whole community has come out to support Love Lowndes.

All the support, donations from local people and our business sponsors, was a key part of our successful grant applications. We needed to prove that the people of Chesham were behind us, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the love and support we’ve received.

The best news is that we smashed our minimum target of £150k! I always said we needed more money in order to deliver the kind of park our kids deserve. I hope you’ll all be as thrilled as I am with the design. We’ve worked hard to reflect all the consultation we’ve done and make sure it’s challenging, inclusive and so much fun.

Thank you to everyone who has donated, helped, spread the word, attended an event or supported us in any way. We did it!”

Louise Hayday, CEO of Chesham Town Council, went on to say:

“Chesham Town Council is delighted to announce the imminent start of the playground build in Lowndes Park. This exciting addition to our community space is designed to provide a safe, fun, and engaging environment for children aged between 5 and 11.

The new playground features a variety of modern play equipment, including swings, slides, climbing structures, and interactive play panels. It has been thoughtfully designed to cater to the diverse needs of our community, ensuring accessibility and enjoyment for all.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Love Lowndes for their unwavering support and dedication in fundraising for this project. Their commitment and hard work have been instrumental in bringing this vision to life. The collaboration between Chesham Town Council and Love Lowndes exemplifies the power of community spirit and partnership.”

Further information about the opening of the new playground will be announced in March 2025, and the Love Lowndes group will also soon announce plans for a new fundraising campaign to raise the funds for a new playground in Lowndes Park for the children under the age of 5. The group is always happy to hear from new volunteers who would like to be involved with the campaign.

Contact lovelowndes@gmail.com

Further Information

Love Lowndes is a community group of volunteers fundraising to create a destination playground in Lowndes Park, Chesham. Their fundraising target for the new 5-11 years playground was £150k+.

Love Lowndes is a Friends of Lowndes Park project in partnership with Chesham Town Council.

Contact details:

Lovelowndes@gmail.com

Love Lowndes Crowdfunder page: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/love-lowndes

Love Lowndes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lovelowndes

Love Lowndes Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovelowndes/