THIS week’s From the Archives look at the efforts of a volunteer group building a playground.

An International Volunteer Service team built an adventure playground for the children at “The Lindens”, a residential clinic for children with mental health issues, as the Penarth Times reported on 12 September 12, 1969.

The volunteer team was made up of several different nationalities including two Czechs, two Italians, three Britons, a Belgian and a Spaniard.

The new playground included features like a full assault course with barrels and rope swings, and a hand-built log cabin.

The headmaster of the school, Mr Glyn Matthews, along with his staff were described as being “full of praise” for the volunteers.

The volunteers were described as having “enthusiastically set about the task of building a comprehensive and imaginative adventure playground”.

The Lindens – formerly “The Lindens Boarding Home for Maladjusted Children” – is now composed of luxury apartments.

It once had room for up to 23 children drawn from across Glamorgan, was administered by the county council and had treatment provided by Whitchurch Hospital.

A psychologist and psychiatrist was made available to children and their families for regular therapy sessions.

Staff were encouraged to help with building “an atmosphere which supports the child while he cures himself”.

The unit had as a motto: “To Cure Sometimes, To Relieve Often, To Comfort Always.”