Chess tables installed at two Pendle parks

Pendle Borough Council has been allocated Government funding to provide the activity tables at Marsden Park in Nelson and Letcliffe Park in Barnoldswick.

Each four-seater picnic bench features a chessboard on the top, although people wanting to use them will need to take along their own chess set.

The aim of the new leisure equipment is to encourage more usage and reasons to visit the parks, to encourage chess playing and to help with the associated mental health benefits of a social game in an outdoor environment.

Councillor Asjad Mahmood, Leader of Pendle Borough Council, said: “The new outdoor chess boards are designed to improve existing green space facilities and encourage residents to come together to meet, learn and play.

“It is wonderful that we can add to our wellbeing offerings at these two parks and I am certain the new chess tables will be brilliant additions to the facilities they already provide.”

Phil Riley, Green Spaces Manager at Pendle Borough Council, added: “We have chosen the parks in Nelson and Barnoldswick based on the fantastic community hubs that already exist there.

“We hope these new tables will add to what the parks already have to offer and visitors of all ages will go along to use them.”

Councillor Zafar Ali, the Council’s Portfolio Holder for Environment and Climate Change, added: “It is so important for us to create outside spaces where people feel they can be active and meet like-minded people.

“There are great benefits to playing chess and the game can have a positive impact on our mental health; plus, with the chess boards being outdoors, it will also boost the users’ wellbeing.”