A SPROSTON business has awarded a new playground to a Crewe primary school after its first World Book Day competition.

The Playground Company, based at Manor Farm in Holmes Chapel Road, celebrated the 20th anniversary of World Book Day by giving away a story telling area to The Dingle School in Haslington.

The competition, in its first year, was well received, with more than 1,000 entries being made across primary schools within the Cheshire East Council.

Children were invited to submit a favourite book cover or character from a book before February 20, with the process starting in January.

Jody Mitchell, sales support manager at The Playground Company, said: “It’s fantastic for us to award this playground to the school.

“I thought of the idea one evening when I was just trying to think how we could do something special for the anniversary.

“A lot of us have children that go to schools in the area, so this was a great way to show that we want to be their first port of call.

“Due to the amount of entries we had to shortlist again and again but the winner really stood out.”

The new playground is set to be installed by the end of March, and includes a story telling chair and four rubber top mushroom seats.

The story telling idea is described as being ‘dedicated to quiet learning and play and a great escape out of the classroom.’

It aims to help children adapt to new learning environments as well as creating an escape from the busy playground.

The winning entrant was chosen due to their use of multiple materials and taking inspiration from Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

The Playground Company hopes that it can use this year’s competition as a way to take it nationwide in the near future.