YOUNGSTERS are celebrating the opening of a new playground in their community after a three-year campaign by two mums.

A £40,000 state-of-the-art playground for children aged up to seven in Jubilee Field, off Balmoral Road in Sutton-at-Hone, was officially opened by Mayor of Dartford Pat Coleman on August 21.

Mums Jennifer Tremain and Kelly Hazeldine raised the money to build the playground over three years, as they were fed up of there being no nearby outdoor activities for their children.

Mrs Tremain’s children Katie, aged five, and two-year-old Alex were there for the grand opening, and Mrs Tremain says she is delighted they now have somewhere to play.The 31-year-old, of Barton Road, said: “I’m so pleased to see the playground finally open for our children, as at times over the past three years it seemed it would never happen.

“We did really need something in the area for children to do as there is no youth club, so there was the danger they would just hang around on the street causing trouble.”

She says creating the playground has been a team effort, with a lot of help coming from Sutton-at-Hone parish councillors Chris Armstrong and Stephen De Winton.

They gathered the money by holding fundraising events, collecting donations, and successfully applying for a £25,000 grant from Groundwork, a charity supporting community projects.

Groundwork raised the £25,000 they donated through their partnership with Marks and Spencer, which sees the supermarket giving funds from its 5p carrier bags charge to the charity.