DURING the Second World War it provided shelter for Littlemore’s children but now it will provide youngsters with hours of fun.

Work has begun on the £135,000 refurbishment of one of Littlemore’s play areas which includes using the earth mound of an old air raid shelter to create a slide.

When completed, the play area at Oxford Road recreation ground will include new equipment and feature a brand new ball court.

It has been made possible thanks to funding from Waste Recycling Environmental (Wren), which distributes landfill tax credits to good causes.

Littlemore Parish Council chairman Anne Mogridge said: “The parish council put a lot of time and effort into securing the funding from Wren, so it is a real relief to see work is finally progressing.

“The new facilities will be a huge benefit to local children and young people, and for families to enjoy for many years to come.”

The work will see almost all the existing equipment replaced with new toddler swings, a new basket swing, a toddler trim trail, and a net roundabout.

The old air raid shelter will have an embankment slide added and sleepers installed on it.

There will also be some more adventurous play equipment for older children, including a zip wire and a large climbing unit.

Wren gave £50,000 towards the project, with a total of £70,000 provided by Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council.

The parish council put in £5,000 itself and was given £10,000 by the city council’s local area committee.

City councillor Mark Lygo, cabinet member for sports and parks, said: “The community will really benefit from this investment and the funding will provide two fantastic new and improved facilities.”

He added: “I am pleased that we were able to secure the funding and that the young people from the community will soon be able to enjoy the new site.”

Work at the Oxford Road recreation ground is expected to take about 10 weeks.

John Tanner, parish and city councillor for Littlemore, said: “The next step is to start raising funds to do something similar for the Herschel Crescent recreation ground.”