Pupils enjoy Parkway tour

About 40 pupils from Speenhamland Primary School were shown around the development this week

CHILDREN from a Newbury school were given a tour of the town's new Parkway development this week.

About 40 Foundation stage pupils from Speenhamland Primary School in Pelican Lane visited the mixed-use shopping and housing development on Tuesday, where they were shown inside the 96,000 sq ft Debenhams shell unit, taken for a walk along the main shopping streets and given a safety talk on the dangers of a building site.

The 475,000 sq ft development is due to open in October and after the pupils were taken behind the scenes of the working construction site, they were each given a goody bag that included colouring packs, pencils and their own high visibility hat.

Christine Birks, from Speenhamland, said the children were so inspired by the visit that they pretended to be builders when they got back to school.

Mrs Birks said: “All the staff from Speenhamland school would like to say a huge thank you to all those involved at Costain for making us so welcome and providing the children with a wonderful learning experience.

“A lot of time was spent making this a safe and enjoyable visit.”

The children will now share their memories of the visit through a colouring competition and the winner will be presented with a Thomas and Friends construction set from Costain.

Meanwhile, about 150 people who pre-registered their interest are getting ready for their own behind-the-scenes tour of the complex on Sunday in groups of 10.

For pictures from the tour and the views of those who went on it, see next Thursday's Newbury Weekly News.