Annual exhibition & fun day 2009

The Family information service Annual Exhibition & Fun Day took place at the Bridgend Recreation Centre on Thursday 16th April. This year's theme was ‘Pirates’. Organisers, stand holders and many of the children dressed up as pirates to add to the fun.

The Mayor of the County Borough of Bridgend, Cllr Cleone Westwood attended the event along with other dignitaries, including Jo Farrar, the Chief Executive of Bridgend Borough Council, the Leader of the Council, Cllr M Nott and the deputy leader, Cllr D Sage to mention a few. I believe they were very impressed by the variety of activities available, the amount of children and the information available for the parents.

The main idea behind the day is that whilst the children are busy enjoying themselves, the grown ups can find out about the services available for families within the Bridgend Borough from the agencies supporting the Fun Day. Many are part of Bridgend County Borough Council, others are from the voluntary sector, local health board and other support services.

The children could take part in the Pirate themed art and craft activities, have their faces painted, practice their driving skills with the Krazy Karts, have fun on the bouncy castles, taste some unusual fruit on the healthy eating stand, make music in the drumming workshops and much much more….

Every year we try to build on the success of the previous event and introduce some new aspects to the day. We had visits throughout the day from Bridget the Bee, part of the Road Safety team, the Bookstart bear from the Libraries, to encourage children to read from an early age and Billie Blue from the Safer Bridgend stand. New for this year the Credit Union joined us to provide vital information in the current financial climate; they joined in the pirate theme and sculptured balloon swords all day.

We were very pleased to welcome back BridgeFM who got the day off to a good start by opening the event and broadcasted a live link from the Fun Day, playing requests and interviewing some of the stand holders. The free water bottles were once again a big hit with the children. I feel the parents appreciated the free water as the children soon needed refreshments, having fun is thirsty work.

Every year the event grows and gets better. Roger Goss, the centre manager, agreed that this was the most well attended Fun Day yet. Many families took advantage of the sun and visited the park outside then returned throughout the day to the many activities on offer. It is estimated that approximately 3000 visited the event throughout the day

Feedback shows that the children really had a wonderful time, thanks to the effort and enthusiasm of all those who contributed. Our evaluation forms of the day have clearly indicated that the children had great fun and parents found the information available of interest and value.

To encourage completion of the evaluation forms we offered a free raffle, the prize was a mountain bike. The draw took place on Monday 20th April.

The lucky winner was Dorothy Watkins, a great grandmother from Gorseinon. Dorothy happily visited the office to collect her prize and joked that “to be fair to all my great grandchildren I will have to hold my own raffle”

Dorothy praised Bridgend County Borough Council for holding a free, useful ad enjoyable event and wished that something similar was available in her own area.

Click here to view more photos from the fun day.