The cars pulled up, the stalls went up, the donkeys arrived… then… the sun came out… and stayed out! …we were ready for a great day in the Park!
We can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since East Coseley’s Big Local Big Event, bringing together local people for a day of fun in the park.
This year was the 4th event to take place in Clayton Park funded entirely by East Coseley Big Local. The event was the most successful and …hottest yet!
Residents in East Coseley often tell us how much they love their local parks and green spaces. The Big Event brings people of all ages and backgrounds together and helps to support the delivery of the big local plan for 2017-2020.
A bouncy castle, inflatable slides, donkeys, circus skills, face-painting, a climbing wall and performances from the Coseley Comets, and Aace dance kept us all very busy throughout the day! Black country radio provided music and sound system for the day.
East Coseley Big Local volunteers provided games for children and a tombola, which raised a fantastic £195.10 for the local food bank. This money will be used either towards buying food or heating vouchers to help local people in the winter.
Castle and Crystal provided financial advice for people in the area. Big Local volunteers were busy spreading the word about Big Local opportunities and how to get involved, making connections and becoming familiar faces to local people. People were submitting ideas for what they would like to see in the area.
I asked Neil Langford, Big Local Community Changemaker, to tell me more about the story behind the event:
“It all started back in 2014, the core group at the time decided they wanted to do something to bring the community together. Conversations started around fond memories looking back at the Coseley Carnival in the 1970’s and 80’s. This sparked ideas to bring a big event back for the new generation of local people. We got started by forming a Big Event Sub Group hence the name Big Event.
The first thing we needed to do was to find a location for the event. Clayton Park, situated right in the heart of Coseley, provided the perfect wide open green space and indoor youth club facilities to host the event. We then sought out to get permission to use the park from the council’ greens spaces team based at Himley Hall.
We now have a great partnership with Himley Hall, they have been a great asset by providing us with permission to use the parks for our events, and advice and new ideas to help us get events up and running.”
This years event was organised again by the Big Event Sub Group, through meetings during the year. On the day, we saw the whole of the Core Group and some volunteers helping out.
The event saw a huge positive response on social media.
Brian Guest, Core Group Chair, told me what he thought an event like this could bring to the area?
“The Big Event is now firmly booked in the calendar and people look forward to the event every year. The event brings families together to meet old friends and also make new ones. To see families enjoying themselves proves that East Coseley is a vibrant, welcoming community proud of its heritage”
When the day ended, the people began to make their way home, the stalls packed up, the donkeys headed home to Bridgnorth, the cars pulled up and the sun started to set.
Ingredients
Large green space, facilities, volunteers, local businesses, donkeys, sunshine, Council representative, melting ice creams,