Craven families and residents are being invited to come along to Aireville Park in Skipton to help build a willow dome and tunnel and take part in a range of creative activities.

The Willow Weekend takes place on Saturday March 30 and Sunday March 31, when Friends of Aireville Park are being joined by Forest School leaders in the park.

The willow dome and tunnel will form a permanent feature in the new playground, near the zip wire.

The playground is expected to be open for that weekend with Phase 2 of the construction completed.

Fiona Protheroe, chairperson of Friends of Aireville Park, said: “We’re really excited about this weekend – there will be lots of workshops and activities for all ages, and we’ll be creating a fantastic area of the new playground for people to enjoy.

“We’ve worked so hard to raise the money for this playground so it’s brilliant to be involved in putting the finishing touches to the project.”

Bruce Dinsmore, Sports Development Officer at Craven District Council, said: “This should be a great weekend for families to come along to our amazing new park and join us in building a new feature for the playground.

“We’ve been pulling out all the stops to get the playground completed and we can’t wait to see families enjoying the new equipment.”

On Saturday March 30, from 10am to midday, there will be workshops to make willow birdfeeders, and on Sunday March 31, from 10am to midday, families can make willow dreamcatchers.

On both days, between 1pm and 3pm there will be Hapa Zome leaf printing workshops, and badge-making and a nature scavenging hunt will be taking place throughout the weekend. All activities and workshops are volunteer-led and will be free.

The funds raised for the project now total over £200,000. Craven District Council has contributed capital funding of £15,810 to the project, along with £52,791 of planning gain.

The playground opened in January when Phase 1 of the building work was completed. It has been closed for the last few weeks for Phase 2 to be completed, which has involved installing a large forest climber and a play tower, paid for with a £51,900 grant from Yorventure and Yorwaste Ltd. Smaller pieces of equipment have also been installed and the bare soil has been turfed.