A VILLAGE is celebrating the jubilee with a £140,000 playing field.

Huntington Primary School, Cheshire West and Chester Council leader Cllr Mike Jones and Huntington Parish Council chairman Cllr Mark Williams officially opened the upgraded Jubilee playing field on Meadow Lane originally purchased by the parish council for the silver jubilee in 1977.

More than 60 children broke through the opening ribbon with a race to try out the new equipment.

Huntington Parish Council raised the money from developers’ contributions through legal agreements, a generous grant of £50,000 from the landfill communities funds of FCC Environment, formerly the Waste Recycling Group, which is administered by WREN and welcome donations from Huntington Village Hall Committee, Huntington WI and Cllr Williams’s member’s budget.

This enabled the project to be completed for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year.

The initiative saw nearly three years of consultation.

The field includes a new seven-a-side football pitch, a fully equipped multi-use games area, a zipwire, slides for different age groups, numerous different climbing frames and many types of swing equipment.

There is also a nature area including a wild flower meadow which offers the opportunity for families to picnic and the children to enjoy the safe surroundings and have fun.

Cllr Jones said: “What a fantastic facility for the young people of Huntington.

“One of the main complaints we receive is our teenagers hang around the street as there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. This has now changed and it was good to see some 20 teenagers playing football and enjoying each other’s company.”