The £30,000 scheme was finally unveiled in Mitford on Saturday when Castle Morpeth Mayor Milburn Douglas formally cut the ribbon on new play equipment.

Project Group member Brian Talkes said: "It was just marvellous on Saturday afternoon to see the huge number of people that were there, and of course all the children who turned up to try the new equipment."

The initiative took off when village children complained their 20-year-old playground had lost its excitement and petitioned their local Community Centre and Parish Council to bring in some replacements.

The groups agreed and, along with some of the parents who had led the drive for the original park, set about the task.

Children were involved in the design process and started to collect funds through car cleaning, small household jobs, trick or treat collections and carol singing, while the adults talked to suppliers, sent out grant requests and organised fundraising discos, a ceilidh and Christmas fair.

They even produced a Mitford recipe book to add to the effort and staged two one-day cricket tournaments, which proved so popular they led to a new junior section in Mitford Cricket Club.

Money started to trickle in from a variety of sources, including the Co-op, Pfizer, Dickon Trust, Barbour Trust, former County Councillor James Grant and the Community Fund, but there was disappointment when a £5,000 Awards for All grant had to be returned as the project could not be completed within the specified time.

However, Castle Morpeth Council made up the loss with a grant of its own and work finally began early this year.

Now the site has been levelled, turfed and fenced and offers equipment for children aged four to 16, including a tower with ropes, a slide and shelter, a spinner, a spring roundabout and a maze.

For parents there is a seat and there are hopes of adding a shelter.

"In retrospect it has been a long struggle with some disappointments along the way when we have had grant rejections, but there have also been a lot of highlights when money has come in," said Mr Talkes.

"We have known all the way along that we had the village people behind us. In fact, through their fundraising and support and enthusiasm we got quite a lot of money and that was the key that helped to bring in the money from the big funders.

"What we have got now is a safe, exciting place for the kids to go and play and meet their friends. It will be helping to develop them socially, as well as physically.

"We are extremely grateful for all the money that has come in from all the areas, from the funders and our own fundraising events.

"It is just lovely that the project is now done and we can start thinking about something else."

The main group responsible for the scheme was made up of Rhona Harris, Laura Henderson, Elaine Scott, Brian Talkes, Julie Gill and Justine Ward.

Next on its list is the refurbishment of the village hall.