After a long time of not being able to meet in person, we really pleased to be able to bring families together again for our summer programme in Lambeth and Southwark. And what a season we had! We were so happy to be collaborating with Bee Urban, Roots and Shoots, Bankside Open Spaces Trust and Oasis Farm Waterloo for 8 wonderful mornings of volunteering specifically designed for little ones to do with their grown ups.
We planted bee-friendly plants, painted bee hives, collected apples, built a 'dead hedge' for wildlife, made and planted seed bombs, pulled up weeds, planted 'frog friendly' plants around the pond... it was busy! And totally wonderful. As at all of our sessions, once the hard work is done the kids got the chance to do a fun learning activity - we had painting with natural inks, meeting real newts and caterpillars, and making seed bombs to take home. We then rounded off the session with snack and story time.
Thank you to all the families who came along, we were so pleased to hear via our post-event surveys that you enjoyed it as much as we did! 60% of you hadn't ever visited the host charity before; you told us the best things about the sessions were having fun with your children, meeting other local families, introducing your child(ren) to the idea of volunteering and getting to know a charity local to you. It genuinely means so much that 100% of you would come again to future sessions! And that none of you had improvements to suggest.
We're so grateful to our primary funder for the programme, Comic Relief, for their support in being able to make this fantastic local programme happen! And also to Marks & Spencer for their support of the overall project. Last but certainly not least, thank you to Helen, our wonderful FVC Coordinator who helped make these events happen - and for your lovely storytelling to the children at the end of the sessions.
We can't wait to bring you future sessions this Winter - please sign up to the mailing list to be the first to hear!
And some closing comments from the families who attended
(thank you...)
"Thanks for running these, they have been wonderful!"
"More of the same please!"
"Thank you, and we look forward to the next round of sessions"
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