A SOGGY school field will be turned into a nature trail and garden.

Park School in Blackpool has been granted £1,500 under the Transco Grassroots sponsorship scheme which rewards environmental improvements.

The cash will help transform the Whitegate Drive site, roughly the size of one-and-a-half football pitches, into a meadowland and hedgerow trail, wetland area, sensory garden and pond, as well as many other features.

Putting the field to another used was suggested as it is very soggy and only an area in the middle gets used for junior sports and playtime games.

Said science teacher Barbara Bradley, who is co-ordinating the project: "I felt some areas could be improved visually while also being a great way for children to be able to study the natural environment.

"Park School is a special school for four to 16-year-olds with moderate and complex learning difficulties, and at the moment we have to leave the school when we study the environment.

"It will be a long-term project but we are hoping to get help with the heavy work from local conservation volunteers.

"The idea is for it to be a real community area.

"Next door we have a residential block for children, a nursery school and another school for children with severe learning difficulties who could all share it."

"Transco's asset manager for the North West, Jeff Lang, commented: "The Park School garden is a terrific example of a grassroots project which takes a piece of unused land and transforms it into a valuable educational resource.

"It will provide many different habitats as well as providing an educational stimulus for children of all ages and abilities."

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