After months of campaigning, fundraising and building, the ribbon has finally been cut on Mount Hawke Academy’s new adventure playground.

Pupils and staff from the school in Truro joined community supporters to watch the youngest and oldest school council representatives officially launch the long-awaited equipment.

It was almost a year ago that Mount Hawke applied for a Calor Rural Community Fund grant in a quest to make their dreams of an outdoor play area a reality.

After making it to the finals with the support and votes from Cornwall and beyond, Mount Hawke won the hearts of the judges who awarded them £2,500 towards the new playground.

The outdoor play area will provide pupils with fun and support for the physical education curriculum during school time but will also be open to the wider community to enjoy out of school hours.

After the ceremony, the school council put the new playground to the test, awarding it an unmistakable 100 per cent approval rating - with the log traverse and rope bridge proving very popular.

Catherine Biddick, head of Mount Hawke Academy, said: “The adventure playground has been a long time in planning and an even longer time in raising the money required to build it, but it was definitely worth the wait.

“The playground is a wonderful testament to our school’s determination and resilience and the generosity and kindness of our supporters.”

Paul Blacklock, head of corporate affairs for Calor, said it was “always a delight” to see the finished results of the projects the company had supported.

“It’s a great reminder that the work we do with the fund is making a real difference to rural communities.

“Everyone here at Calor has been overjoyed with the news of the playground opening. We hope it will bring plenty of joy, not just for the school, but the whole of the Mount Hawke community,” he added.

The Calor Rural Community Fund – now in its third year – aims to reward deserving community projects with prize pots ranging from £1,000 to £5,000.

This year’s scheme is bigger and better than ever before, with Calor giving away 21 grants totalling a staggering £70,000. The amount of £5,000 donations has also been doubled from last year – with a total of ten up for grabs.

Partnering with Crowdfunder for 2019, Calor also is pledging £2,000 worth of match funding to approved entries that use the fund-raising platform to raise donations for their community project.

Rural communities off the mains gas grid can submit their projects for funding from March 5 to April 29. To take part visit calor.co.uk/communityfund.