The kids couldn’t wait for the VIPs to finish cutting the tape to open the newest play area in London’s East End.

They had been invited to ‘test’ the playground being officially opened at the new St Stephen’s Green in Old Ford.

Tower Hamlets council chairman Rajib Ahmed in his first official function as First Citizen cut the big red tape and made a speech—followed by the council’s Labour Group leader Joshua Peck.

But the Year 4 pupils from nearby Old Ford Primary were more interested in the serious business of the day—they were there for their afternoon lesson to climb on huge insects and jump off toadstools below the towering flower sculptures in the centre of the square.

The verdict of nine-year-old Rukhsar Yazmin: “This park is cool because it’s so big and really fun. My favourite is the swing in the gym.”

The green was created out of wasteland in St Stephen’s Road next to the Parkside estates run by Old Ford Housing Association, for use by young and old.

Pensioner Rosetta Simpson, 85, said: “The new green is something to come and see. We’ll definitely be out here in the summer.”

St Stephen’s Green is part of the housing organisation’s �55 million five-year regeneration programme for the Parkside estates near Victoria Park that it has managed with 2,500 households since 2007.