A DETERMINED mum who helped raise £170,000 to build a new park for the children of Winsford is celebrating after seeing her dream come to fruition.

Kathryn Lowe, 39, from Winsford, decided three years ago that she would campaign to build a new state-of-the-art park on the Over estate, Winsford.

After rallying the community, gaining 850 signatures, Ms Lowe approached Cheshire West and Chester Council councillor, Lynda Jones to help her with her quest.

“I started the petition three years ago,” she said. “At that time I had a 3-year-old child in nursery and she wasn’t happy with the park.

“I kind of looked at the situation and thought ‘I’m going to do something about it’. I tried my best, and look where we are today.

“The park opened this month and I’m shock the park is now completed because we went to meeting after meeting after meeting

“At one point I just thought ‘we’re not going to get anywhere with this’. I’m just a resident. I’m just a resident on the estate. This is never going to happen. But we did it, we actually created a park.”

With the help of Cllr Jones, Kathryn formed a team who then set about obtaining funding to build the park.

A number of fundraising activities took place to help the team achieve their goal, and Kathryn shaved her head, raising £250.

The group set up meetings with various bodies, including Weaver Vale Housing Trust, GGO West and CWAC, to convince them to support the project.

Funding was obtained from various sources, including Cllr Jones’ Members budget, with the final total topping £170,000.

The park opened this month, and just days later Kathryn won the Cheshire West and Chester Localities Team Community Initiative of the Year at the Winsford Town Mayor’s Oscars.

She said: “It’s been amazing to see. I sat there one afternoon on one of the benches and I was so amazed, with the biggest smile on my face. There were at least 50 or 60 kids on there.

“This is what I wanted. The kids are not on an iPad, there not on an Xbox, the kids are on the park.”