Blacon Adventure Playground announced as BBC award finalist

18 July 2024

Blacon Adventure Playground and City Farm has been announced as a finalist for the Merseyside region of the BBC Make a Difference Awards.

The annual awards aim to recognise and say thank you to the people and organisations who love to make life better for others.

Blacon Adventure Playground, known locally as ‘The Venny’ is nominated in the Green Award category. Managed by local social enterprise Avenue Services and run by a hardworking team of staff and volunteers the free attraction has been a core part of the Blacon community for more than 50 years, welcoming hundreds of young people and families from Blacon every year.

The nomination for the Venny recognises the team’s commitment to providing a variety of services that go above and beyond, including daily food provision and the distribution of essential items such as clothing, toothbrushes, toothpaste and sanitary products for struggling families.

Last year alone volunteers gave over 3,000 hours of time, helping the Venny team to provide 12,000 meals for visitors, deliver 400 food parcels to local families in need and carry out more than 1,000 bicycle repairs, as well as supporting children with their homework and delivering an array of fun games and activities.

Paul Knight, Head of Avenue Services said: “We are delighted to be shortlisted to the final four of the BBC Make A Difference Award. It’s amazing to see all the hard work of our staff and volunteers at the Venny being recognised and we are looking forward to attending the awards in September.”

Avenue Services, which is a not-for-profit organisation, is a joint venture between Sanctuary and Cheshire West and Chester Council.