A PRE-SCHOOL is appealing for help after their dream of a brand new play area was left in tatters.

Ardleigh Pre-School received a £10k grant from a renewable energy company last summer and work began soon after.

But heaven soon became hell when the builder became insolvent and left the school with a half-finished and dangerous play area.

Now Jenny Schofield, the business manager at the school, is appealing for someone to come forward and finish the work for them.

She explained: "We can't afford to get someone else in to do the work and we don't have any parents who are in the trade.

"What we're appealing for is someone very kind to come forward and finish it off for us.

"The concrete the original builder put down would need to be taken up so it's not a small job by any means."

The old concrete outside the village hall in Ardleigh, where the pre-school is based, was broken and easy for children to trip up on.

And while new concrete was put down by the builder, Mrs Schofield explained it is lumpy and just as bad as it was before.

Mrs Schofield arranged for the contractor to do the work but only noticed the poor state of it when she returned after the summer.

She explained: "Once we saw the work we got in touch with the builder and he was actually very good about it at first.

"He apologised and promised to put it right but since then he's gone insolvent and we haven't heard from him since September.

"The children were very excited about it, we'd been talking about it and showing them pictures of how the new area would look."

Mocked-up images of the play area, which show the new design was supposed to look, include a wildlife area and room to ride tricycles.