A DAREDEVIL grandmother was the guest of honour at the official opening of a nursery’s outdoor play area after she helped raise £1,500 towards the project.

Courageous Carys Thomas, 77, completed the daunting Zip World challenge in Snowdonia to help raise the sum for Cylch Meithrin in Deiniolen.

Designed and manufactured by outdoor play experts Creative Play, the brand new £12,000 playground replaces the bare concrete yard which had stood untouched for several years.

The company has installed wetpour safety flooring, a slide, wigwam and climbing frame to transform the playground.

After securing community grants and public donations, including Carys’ sponsorship money, the nursery has finally been able to transform the unused space into a much-needed safe and educational play facility.

The nursery, which caters for children aged two and a half to four years old, has also purchased metal fencing, a shed and a sandpit to complete their new outdoor space.

Carys, who has lived in Deiniolen since 1963 and whose four grandchildren all attended the nursery when they were younger, hailed the new play area as “fantastic”.

"It makes it all worthwhile when you see the smiles on the kids’ faces," she added.

"They were really enjoying themselves, playing and running around.

"The play area itself is fantastic. A lot of very good work has gone into it and it's just what the nursery needed."

Carys’ daredevil exploits came about after she won the opportunity to take on the longest zip wire challenge in Europe at Penrhyn Quarry, Bethesda, thanks to a raffle at her local bingo hall.

"I didn’t really know what to do with it but then I decided I should do it myself and do it for charity," she said.

"My daughter-in -law works at the nursery and we were talking about some local charities I could help.

"Then she mentioned the nursery and the plans for a play area and so I decided I wanted to help them out, as my grandchildren went there when they were younger too.

“The money I raised went a long way so I was really pleased to be able to help them.

"It’s a very close community here and lots of people donated because they know me. I can’t thank them enough."

Carys admits she found taking on the mile long zip wire suspended 700ft in the air to be "daunting", but she was never going to back out despite her three sons, Ceirion, Cemlyn and Carwyn having their doubts.

"When I was on the stand ready to go down I was very nervous then. But once it started I could have gone on to Anglesey," she said.

"It was a fantastic experience but I don’t think I’d do it again, it was a once in a life time thing."

Dilwen Williams, Cylch Meithrin nursery leader, says they have been fundraising to rasie money for the playground for the last couple of years.

They managed to secure grants from OneFamily and Tesco and also received a donation from local business owner Manny Shocker, who was another guest of honour at the opening.

"The new play area has gone down really well with the children - every day they ask to go out and play," she said.

"Learning through outdoor play is a big thing now and so we’re really thankful to Carys and everyone who has helped make this happen.

“We are a very close knit community and we do like to help each other. Now we have something for the future of the village."