Festival Fiesta in Gateshead

Last week, the folks over in Gateshead had their Festival Fiesta using the ‘Get Together’ funding of up to £300. Support Workers Emma and Andrew told us all about it:

“We held our Summer Fiesta in the local park, although due to the ever-changing Great British weather we decided to secure a building just in case, and we’re very pleased we did as it rained all day long! Thankfully, the rain didn’t dampen our spirits the day turned out to be amazing.

“One of the service users, Kevin, brought his guitar and sang us some music. It was great to see everyone interacting with eachother and making new friends, especially after some were nervous about meeting new people. The uplifting mood from staff and relaxing music from Kevin helped the nerves drift away!

Adorable Buster

Brett and his emotional support dog Buster joined us (you can read about Brett and Buster in the latest issue of Creative Life!). Buster got a lot of attention from everyone as he has a very cute and playful nature.

Once everyone arrived we opened up the buffet, which had a great selection of party food for both meat eaters and veggies. Dessert was also provided, which went down a real treat! Thank you to the owner of Jackson’s, who kindly gave us a huge discount on the food provided.

Once everyone had eaten, we entered our game phase of the day, complete with many great prizes to win. These included self-care bags, vouchers and other goodies, which were chosen through a lucky dip. We played Tin Can Alley and Skittles, as originally we’d planned outdoor games which wouldn’t have been as fun! During the games Kevin was also teaching people to play guitar, and it was really nice to see everyone making new friends.

Even though the weather was bad, it proves that with the right mindset and positive attitude you can still have a successful and enjoyable day. Staff did an amazing job and service users enjoyed themselves. We might be able to use our indoor space in the future for coffee mornings and other group sessions, and I’m glad this connection between services has been made as we could benefit from this in the future.”

Check out the photo gallery below!