THE play area at Overmonnow School’s Special Needs Resources Base (SNRB) is to get a facelift thanks to the town’s historic naval associations.

Members of the Royal Naval Association (RNA) and crew members of HMS Monmouth have both raised money through their recent events and the Meeting the Needs charity that supports the SNRB will get a substantial boost towards the facelift which will see the unit’s ‘HMS Victory’ play ship replaced with a practical play area.

Members of the RNA held a concert at the Blake Theatre which raised £4,300 and they have apportioned £650 to the special needs unit. When the crew members from the first HMS Monmouth, 25 years ago, visited town recently (Monmouthshire Beacon, 13th June) they raised a lot of money through their presence in town; the raffle of a bottle of rum that was given to the ship when it was first commissioned on its deployment in the Carribbean raised £140 alone!

This added £250 to the £650 given by the RNA meaning the SNRB received a whopping £900 towards the play area refurbishment!

Mary Shipson of the RNA said that this was not only about raising the profile of the RNA, but also that of the special needs unit.

Deb Beech of the SNRB said they were grateful for the donations: “We can do an awful lot with this money,” she said.