AN EAST Cornwall project will be hoping to win the public vote and a share of £200,000 when it appears in the People's Millions TV contest later this month.

Harrowbarrow and Metherell Community Association is urging the entire population of East Cornwall to vote for the Woodland Park and Play Area when it goes head to head with an historical project in Redruth on November 24.

Six groups in the South West have been shortlisted for the TV contest, which will be featured from November 23 to 26 during ITV Westcountry's regional news programme at 6pm.

Two projects will compete against each other on each night for awards of up to £50,000 each and there will also be a grant for the best runner up.

Chairman of the playpark project Alan Davis said it was absolutely fantastic that the project had got this far.

Mr Davis said: 'We are so excited about it and we are going all out to win the money. It's going to be hard because Redruth is a much bigger place than Harrowbarrow and Metherell so we need everyone in East Cornwall to vote for us.'

In Redruth, Murdoch House — 'The Home of Gas Lighting' project will be battling for the cash. Murdoch House was once home to famous engineer and inventor William Murdoch and was the first building in the world to be lit by gas.

If the Harrowbarrow park were to win, it would be a wonderful finale to a project that has been ten years in the making.

The sloped park adjacent to the village hall and central to the two communities has been designed and landscaped with wheeled areas and places for ball games and different age groups — but has no equipment as yet.

The £50,000 would mean a range of modern play equipment could be installed for use by children of all abilities, from the ages of three to 15.

The group will have three minutes to convince people to vote for them and Mr Davis said he hoped it would be the children who would do most of the talking.

'At the moment there is no safe off-road area for the children to play,' he said.

'I was brought up in the village and we used to play on the old mine workings but that is taboo today.

'Officialdom has shut it down but not provided anywhere else for the children.

'Of the £50,000 we have spent so far in buying the land, landscaping and dealing with contaminated land problems, £40,000 has been raised locally by the community.

'People have put an awful lot of effort into this.'

Already 50 children are playing in the park but Mr Davis said potentially 300 could use it.

'It would be wonderful to win this money and buy the equipment for a project we started ten years ago,' he said.

Details of the project can be seen on the People's Millions website at http://www.peoplesmillions.org.uk">www.peoplesmillions.org.uk where the public can also give initial support.

Telephone voting lines will open at 9am on the day the projects are due to appear on TV and close at midnight.

The winners will be announced the following day.