How a Crosby bookshop – and ‘Rick Astley’! – are supporting efforts to transform a local playground

A Crosby bookshop is supporting efforts to transform a neighbourhood playground … with a little help from Rick Astley!

Friends of Alexandra and Coronation Park have been fundraising to improve the local play area so it becomes accessible and inclusive for all children including those with disabilities and additional needs.

The first phase of the project has already been completed and a second one is due to begin this spring.

With an overall total cost of £250,000, Pritchards independent bookshop in Crosby Village has come up with an unusual fundraising idea to help out.

Owner Amy Wright has decided to raffle a life-size cut-out of Rick Astley which adorned its window display as a promotion for the singer’s autobiography Never.

The raffle is due to continue until the first week in April when one lucky fan will get to take Rick home! All proceeds are being donated to Coronaton Park play area refurbishment.

Hannah Duffy, from the Friends group, says the backing of local businesses has been brilliant in helping them towards their target.

“Pritchards is a fantastic local business always willing to support us and this was something they came up with completely out of the blue,” she says.

“The response since they announced it has been great – I don’t think so many people realised they wanted a cardboard cut-out of Rick Astley until now!”

Hannah says Pritchards help has been typical of the response the group has had since it began its fundraising.

“We’ve had so many giving us donations or raffle prizes, and businesses like Satterthwaites bakery and the owners of restaurants Tree House, So Salsa, Rocksalt and Stuffed come along to our family fun day in August and make a really generous contribution back to our project.”

Hannah, who has two children aged 12 and 9, says the whole community is getting behind the project.

She explains: “Coronation Park is nearest to where we live and a few years ago we were in the play area, and I looked around and thought it really should be so much better. 

“You don’t have to pay to go to your public park so it should be decent and it’s not just the child who benefits, it’s the parents and the grandparents too; there’s that ripple effect of bringing people together and getting children out playing with their friends.

“Also, from a different perspective, I looked at what there was for children with disabilities and there was nothing so I got involved with the Friends volunteer group and offered to lead on the playground project. 

“We asked various playground companies to put something forward that had a wow factor, and also catered to children with disabilities or accessible needs. From that we had one company who put forward a really exciting project which was a mix of new equipment, refurbished equipment and also safe flooring.”

Local councillors gave their support and another parent, Anna Farrell, was able to offer a very personal perspective on what was needed. Her young daughter has a rare genetic condition, severe learning disabilities and autism.

“Anna got in touch and talked to us from her point of view about how she’d been unable to utilise the park with her daughter. 

“She told us her daughter, who uses a wheelchair, was getting enjoyment from seeing other children play but wasn’t able to experience the same things as they did – that feeling of movement in your hair when you’re on a swing or the stomach flip when you’re bouncing up and down, all those sensory experiences that everyone should have the chance to have.”

The transformation is taking place in phases and after securing £20,000 of local council funding, match-funded by Green Sefton, the group was able to generate an additional £10,000 through fundraising for the first phase last year. 

That saw the introduction of a wheelchair-friendly roundabout, safe flooring in a section, inclusive swing seats and spinners, creating an area not just for children with wheelchairs, but for those with other additional needs.

Phase two will cost a further £15,000-£20,000, and Hannah says the continued generosity of all ages in the community is helping towards their goal.

“One of the local schools, Valewood, reviewed the park to see how accessible it was and then decided they wanted to fundraise for us. They raised £4,000 with an inclusive fun run. A local nursery who saw what we were doing also generated £1,600.

“These elements of surprise, when someone has an idea and just does it, make a massive difference.”

Tickets for Pritchards’ Rick Astley raffle are for sale in the shop.

The Friends of Alexandra and Coronation Park also has a Just Giving page here.