Newton and Stape Playing Field Whilst it didn‛t feature strongly as a community centre in the questionnaire, the Playing Field is undoubtedly a major asset for the parishes and for the local children in particular. Indeed the field is well used by holidaymakers and their families and by several families from Pickering!.

The Playing Field was born when two young lads piped up at the Parish Meeting in 1998, called to consider possible millennium projects, and asked for a field to play in. Most people realised that there was now too much traffic across the green for safety and the idea was adopted with enthusiasm by the Parish Council. Two and a half years' hard slog followed, setting up a separate charity to develop and run it, buying land, getting planning permission, visiting existing playing fields to get ideas, considering detailed quotations and applying, successfully, for a huge capital grant from the National Lottery. One factor that helped us there was the inclusion in the Playing Field Association's constitution of two under 18 year old advisers: this was thought to be unique. 

We finally bought the field early in 2001, got it fenced - and then had to put everything on hold for Foot and Mouth Disease. Eventually, it was done, more or less, n time for a very happy opening on the Queen's Jubilee day in 2002. We have tried to provide, within our one acre, something for everyone. It is not just a children's play park: you can play tennis all the year round on the multi-sport hard court and there is a permanent barbecue beside the picnic tables. The Committee knows it is much appreciated, and families come up from Pickering and neighbouring villages because ours is better than anywhere else nearby. We hope people realise that there is still quite a lot of hard slog running such a welcome facility: cutting the grass, weekly inspection of equipment, fundraising to pay the inordinate 3rd party insurance, ROSA annual inspection and so forth. Nevertheless, it is a great achievement for a small scattered community like Newton and Stape.