Rhodes Avenue Primary School: Parents out of pocket after bouncy castle doesn’t arrive for summer fair
Crowds enjoyed the day at Rhodes Avenue Primary, but young children missed the bouncy castle. Picture: Joshua Thurston - Credit: Archant
The parents’ association at a Alexandra Palace primary school was deflated this weekend when a promised bouncy castle wasn’t delivered on time – leaving it with big space at the summer fayre, and a £700 hole in its pocket.
Instead of a bouncy castle, children had to make do with a hastily put together tug-of-war competition. Picture: Joshua Thurston - Credit: Archant
Rhodes Avenue Primary School's Parent-Staff Association (PSA) had ordered the bouncy castle from Pineapple Leisure - but the PSA's chair Julie Harrison-Yandell was this week sad to report that, despite guarantees of delivery within a fortnight, it did not appear before Sunday's fair.
The PSA is a charity, and is now desperate for a refund from the retailer, which Julie says have been ignoring messages.
Julie, a parent of two children at the school, said: "They guaranteed it would be here, and we had been chasing them all week.
"We are down £700 and we're a charity.
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"We help to fund some of the many things the school can't. Essentially, because of funding cuts, we've helped raise money for a computer suite, for example.
"It's not just the £700 - the fair is a big fundraiser and we'll make less because of not having the bouncy castle."
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The PSA had decided this year to invest in its own bouncy castle as a more cost-effective way of having one at the fair - in the past the organisation had simply rented two of them.
Unfortunately this decision backfired, and the fair had to go ahead with a big space on the sports pitch where the bouncy castle was supposed to be.
The PSA improvised, putting on a tug-of-war to give the children plenty to do.
Despite the disappointment, Julie said the fair itself had been a success.
"There was a bit of a big space," she said. "But it was probably only really missed by the younger children.
"It was fine, despite the fact it wasn't there in the end.
"We are just desperate to get a response from them. We regret not looking more closely on the internet about the company.
"We need the money back - that's it now. We don't want the bouncy castle. We really want to push them for a refund."
Pineapple Leisure has not responded to the Broadway's repeated requests for comment on this issue.
