In March, Fresh Futures and Kirklees Family Together, hosted the Kirklees Family Fair in Batley. This was a free event for children and families with refreshments, entertainment, information and advice. On the day there was face painting, balloon animals, parenting and early childhood support, child safety support and much more.
Samantha Latchayya, Leadership Team Coordinator at YCC, who helped organise the event said “We are delighted with the turnouts to our Family Fair events, with hundreds of families reached across our communities receiving advice, support and a really fun day out for all! We would like to thank all of the local groups for their participation. Following the success of the partnership, Fresh Futures are planning to continue the Batley & Spen, and Dewsbury & Mirfield partnerships for the next 12 months.”
The event took place during Ramadan so we ensured we supported the holiday by not having food or drink on display, no having any pork or alcohol on site and quiet spaces were available for reflection and prayer.
Maryam Kazi, a member of the local community said “I loved todays event it was really good, my little one has really enjoyed it as well. There was quite a lot of information that I didn’t know was offered in Kirklees, the home start activities were especially useful for a healthy start, and I’ve taken all the leaflets.”
Jo Cove, Community plus said “It’s a lovely event, a brilliant setting, its quite central in town and its been a really good turnout for this area, because it’s not always easy to engage people in Batley I find. I’ve got three people here pebble painting and one person doing stickers. It’s just coming together and doing an activity and having a chat about the services we provide helping people connect with what’s going on within their own communities. After COVID I think people are a little bit more reluctant to go out and about, there’s a lot of people struggling with anxiety and depression, so we can help people with that.”