Hackney Playbus children’s charity hits £25,000 target for new double-decker

Wheels on fire: the new crowdfunded Playbus. Photograph: Hackney Playbus

Children living on the borough’s estates will be pleased to hear that Hackney Playbus is back in action.

Following the success of the children’s charity’s £25,000 fundraising appeal, a new double-decker has been bought and is now up and running.

Playbus has carried out a number of its own fundraising events, but Playbus director Claire Kelly says that the £25,000 target could not have been met without the generosity of the local community.

She told the Hackney Citizen: “We were rewarded with amazing support from local community groups and those who have used the service over the years”.

Kelly paid tribute to several organisations which have held events to help with fundraising, including the Ivy Street Family Centre, and Hackney Players – a local amateur dramatics group, as well as Maisie Poppins Childcare.

She also heaped praise on West Hackney Parochial, Hackney Parochial and South Hackney Parochial Charities: “They all played a fundamental role in ensuring that we were able to buy our new bus and keep the service running. ”

Last September, the charity had to bid a sad farewell to ‘Bugsie’, its previous much-loved bus, when her gearbox gave in after eight years of devoted service.

A 1984 Leyland Olympian bus, Bugsie been with the charity since around 2009, having been purchased on eBay and driven down to London from the North, where she had formerly served for many years as a schoolbus.

Bugsie’s demise led the charity to launch a cash appeal for the “bus of its dreams”, which caters mainly for the under-fives.

To celebrate the inauguration of the new playground-on-wheels, the charity is inviting its supporters to  a launch event on Hackney Downs at 12 noon on Saturday 17 June.

In a clear sign of the project’s success, one parent described how the Playbus had helped with her child’s development “101 per cent” while another heaped praise on its workers: “They are fantastic. They are brilliant people, so helpful”.

Hackney Playbus has been on the road come rain or shine since 1972, when the organisation was set up by Hackney Labour councillor Anthony Kendall, who felt that children growing up on council estates often lacked enough opportunities to play.

It was initially run by the Town Hall but later became an independent charity.

Hackney Playbus has already launched its next campaign, aiming to raise £2,500 by the end of July in order to take the double-decker onto Hackney Downs for the summer months.

In doing so, the charity hopes to help parents who are unable to take their children away on foreign holidays.

Those wishing to contribute to the campaign can do so by clicking here.