Drefach is a village on the outskirts of the rural county of Ceredigion in SW Wales. Children living in rural areas generally have access to far fewer recreational facilities than their urban counterparts and suffer from the under-recognised plight of rural isolation. Also a significant proportion of local people depend, directly or indirectly, on agriculture for their livelihood, and the serious problems faced by farming communities such as ours are well-documented. One by one, villages are losing their shops, schools, pubs and other facilities, which are their very life-blood. We are determined to resist this trend by establishing a new local facility for our children.

The area of benefit has been established as Drefach, Llanwenog and the locality -  broadly speaking, the area falling within approximately 1.5 miles of the war memorial in Drefach. There are presently no play facilities for children in the area, and the A487 (the main road from Lampeter to Newcastle Emlyn), which runs directly through Drefach, represents a significant danger to children.

The need for a safe play area was identified several years ago by local residents alarmed at the tendency for children to play along the roadside and by a number of dangerous incidents which could have resulted in serious injury. There have also been instances of petty crime such as vandalism and graffiti, which are attributed to children with nothing else to do. The project has the full support of our County Councillor and Llanwenog Community Council, and is in line with the County Council's Recreation Objective (see extract from the Community, Education & Recreation document CER2).

Analysis of Census data shows that the area of benefit has an increasing population comprising a minimum of 400 people (all ages) including at least 80 children under the age of 15. These figures indicate that there is substantial demand for a playground in the area with the prospect of a continuing upward trend.