| At the playground opening, John Nicholl, committee member of Hertfordshire Spoon, Philip Blunden, Projects Coordinator, as well as Emma Mitchell, formerly of the England Ladies Rugby Union Team and the grateful children from the Lonsdale School were all in attendance. The Hertfordshire region of Spoon has in the past 4 years either spent or allocated around £200,000 for local projects. Emma played for England Ladies for 15 years and collected over 70 'Caps', and came specifically to open the Wheelchair bridge and talk to the children at Assembly.
The project was suggested to the Hertfordshire committee by Paul Freestone, a member of Stevenage Rugby Club, who met John Nicholl whilst on tour with the World Cup trophy in 2004. Paul’s wife had worked at the school and knew of the needs of the children for an appropriate play area. The Committee agreed to fund £20,000 for a playground, which was previously just a lawned open space. This area was not much good for the children at this special needs school, so the regional committee agreed to fund paths, bridges and a wheelchair –accessible roundabout to enable the children to play a variety of activities in the area.
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