The donation from the Bedfordshire Freemasons will be used to renovate the trim trail

A school will be able to renovate an outdoor play area thanks to a generous donation from a fraternal organisation.

The Bedfordshire Freemasons gave £5,600 to St Mary’s Church of England Academy School in Stotfold, to help them refurbish the trim trail on December 23.

Sarah Webster, 38, chairman of the parent teachers association (PTA) said: “The trim trail has a little bridge and a trail for the kids to follow.

“But it has been run down for 18 months and has become an eyesore, the kids cannot use it.

“I contacted the Freemasons hoping they would give a couple hundred pounds but they kindly offered to pay for the whole refurbishment themselves.”

The donation came from the provincial charity fund, which is raised from contributions made by members of the Freemason’s at the organisation’s meetings.

Anthony Henderson, the Provincial Grand Master for Bedfordshire Freemasons, said: “As part of English Freemasonry’s Tercentenary Celebrations in 2017, the Bedfordshire Freemasons intend to provide additional support to local and national charities.

“Supporting the communities we live in is an integral part of what Freemasonry is about.”

The renovation of the trim trail comes as part of a wider regeneration of St Mary’s playground.

Mrs Webster, who lives in Stotfold, said: “Our school is currently fundraising for play equipment for the playground because we don’t have any equipment currently.

“We are developing in stages, we started with painting lines on the playground and then we wanted to refurbish our trim trail.”

Mrs Webster has two boys at St Mary’s eight-year-old Robert who is in Year 4 and six-year-old William who is in Year 2, she also has another son two-year-old Ewan.

She said: “The next step is to buy a climbing frame. As the mother of three active boys I know how they need to run around.

“Climbing frames cost £15,000 and upwards so that’s a lot of quiz nights and bake sales.”

“It is lovely to have a nice open space for the children to run around but they also need to be able to climb on things, to jump around on things and to hang upside down.”

“Everything has to be suitable for all different abilities, because we have children aged from four to nine at the school, and they will all want to use it.”