Hundreds of Houston residents enjoyed a rare day of glorious summer weather on Sunday to mark the completion of transformations made to Crosslee swing park.

Following three years of hard work from the Houston Play Park Improvement Group, the family fun day was organised as a thank you to the local community for supporting them.

Ambitious mum’s Debbie Stewart, Susan Hunter and Claire Stewart, decided to set up the group in May 2012 after realising that there was no fun equipment or facilities for older children at their local Crosslee park in Houston.

The go-getting team behind the group worked tirelessly alongside Houston primary pupils to develop creative ideas on what the children would like to see in their fantasy playpark.

They have been closely supported by Labour Councillor Stuart Clark, who has praised the group for improving their local community.

Councillor Clark said: “The Houston Play Park Improvement Group are a fantastic example of community spirit in action. They saw a need and worked hard in a positive way alongside the local community to deliver on their aspirations.

“It has been my pleasure to support the group in any way I have been able to, but the credit for this fantastic community improvement must all go to the amazing volunteers, and in particular their chairwoman Debbie Stewart who has been outstanding.

“Since the park has been upgraded it has become so well used the ground is suffering so I am pleased that we have managed to secure the installation of a new path and entrance improvements.” Members of the Houston group were thrilled by the quality of the newly installed equipment and were overwhelmed by the response from local youngsters.

Amongst a range of fundraising activities, the local group have organised clothes recycling, raffles, cream teas and submitted numerous grant applications.

Group chairwoman Debbie Stewart was delighted with the success of the family fun day. She said: “This was a fantastic family fun day at the park as a thank you to the local community in Houston for supporting our efforts over the last three years. The kids really enjoyed the bouncy castle, birds of prey, football and candyfloss and the adults didn’t seem to mind the odd burger or two.

“It has been a lot of work to upgrade the park but myself and the committee felt strongly that the community would really benefit from these improved facilities and we have been delighted with how well used the park has been. I am grateful to Cllr Clark for all of his help and support over the last three years, it has made a real difference. I’m looking forward to being able to enjoy the park with my own kids now it is complete.”