The programme ran over three days between 29-31 October with a separate session on each day between 10-3pm. The sessions covered Music and Poetry, Creating a textile banner and Halloween Crafts. We took a different approach to the marketing and bookings by going along to each of the local primary schools and physically handing out leaflets to parents and taking bookings through a dedicated phone and email address, as well as directly through the Chatterbox Cafe, rather than using Eventbrite. This increased the coverage and take up.
Each day was very well attended and over the three days some 99 children took part, with some attending multiple days. There were some excellent outcomes and some of these could form part of the ABL legacy. For example, the textile banner is to be displayed at St Martin’s Church and a moving poem, created by the children will be read out at the AGM.
Attendance definitely attracted the intended families and there were some new families in
the area who came from different Ethnic backgrounds. Some parents came with a key worker and some returned having attended in the summer.
The offer of free lunches again proved popular and the take up of these exceeded the intended budget by a handful. We are grateful to ABL for picking up the cost of these.