Fantastic day of fun and games had by all at our Playful Street Fest. Huge thanks to everyone who made the effort to come, brought delicious food and helped with the set up/clean up. Great to see our community spirit is alive and well in the Old Forge❤️

Weather forecast looking great for tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing you all!🥳

Delighted to get our Playful Street Playbox in the post today! Looking forward to using in on the August 28th🥳

Following a very successful first team meeting last night the following plan has been put in place for the Old Forge Playful Street Event:

• All agreed that the date of August 27th and the start time of 3pm were perfect. It is the end of summer, most families will be around as school and work will start back again the following week. This will maximise attendance.

• Theme – Sharon gave the group a rundown on what she had done so far with ChangeX. They were all very impressed especially with the “Playful Street” information pack.

• Location- The event will be held on the large green at the back of the estate. This area was chosen as it can be closed off to cars and has no through traffic. Some health & safety improvements will need to be made to the area before the event- Hedge trimming etc. Tim will organise these with a local landscaper and some of the seed funding will go towards this.

• Activities – With play being the main goal of the event the group discussed all the options that could be done on the day. It was decided that the road will be closed off to cars and different “play zones” be set up so people could get to try as many activities as they liked/wanted too. Zones will include basketball, tennis, ball games, hula-hoops, badminton, Jenga, hopscotch etc. It was also decided to play other types of games such as cards & bingo for the not so active attendees. Seed funding will be used to purchase equipment for these games.

• Social benefits- Playful Street event was seen by the group as a great way of getting the young and the older residents mixing and meeting up. The effects of Covid can be seen in the community with people not getting to know each other as they used to before the pandemic. Also over the last few years many houses have changed occupants, the event will be a great way for people to get to know their neighbours.

• Catering – Food always brings people together! Catering will be a very important part of the day. The group discussed the many options available and decided on the “Pot Luck” approach. Each household will be asked to contribute a dish to the event. Seed funding will be used by the group to supplement this style of catering.

• Covid 19 Safety Plan- As the event will be outdoors there should be little risk of Covid infection. At the time of the event, the group will adhere to all government guidelines in place. Hand sanitiser and masks will be available on the day.