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Winter Wonders!
December 18, 2021 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Free
Winter Wonders 2021
On Saturday, December 18th, 2021 we held our first outdoor festive event Winter Wonders at Old Diorama Arts: Triton Street. Despite the challenges of rising COVID-19 cases and increased restrictions, it was wonderful to see over 200 people come together (plus some extra deliveries to isolating households) at a time of year that can be lonely or isolating for both young people and elderly members of the community.
Guests were greeted by 35 young people who served as event stewards. Everyone was thrilled by the event managers’ merry jokes, customer service and great sing along. The event offered delight to the community with 99% of guests describing the event as good or brilliant, with over 75% selecting Brilliant. There were several Christmas games including bowling elves or hooking a Christmas duck and themed throwing games with fab prizes to take home as gifts. There were also fantastic winter beverages, particularly the hot cocoa, which went down a treat along with a roast dinner that guests could eat on site or take home. One of the biggest highlights of this year’s Christmas event was our very own FYA Santa, who continued to spread cheer all over the place, delivering chocolates donated from Tesco on Tottenham Court Road and taking pictures.
80% of guests met people at our event that had not met before, supporting community cohesion and connection, especially at this time of year and added concerns for wellbeing. 52% of the audience reported an increase in community belonging overall, with 85% of guests reporting their community belonging between 8-10 out of 10 after the event, in comparison to only 58% reporting 8-10 out of 10 before. Every guest was also given an activity pack and hot water bottle gift to bring comfort and extend the wellbeing of the event beyond the day.
Here are some other highlights of the evening as described by our guests:
Great event, jolly staff and amazing service!
We really needed this event after everything that has happened during 2021
The event was wonderful! I even made a new friend!
It was nice to have some community spirit back into this area and time of year!
The community has not been like this for a while which makes like this even better
Even though there were some setbacks we were so glad that the event still happened
I just wanted to say Thank you so much for finding a way to still make today happen. I was so lonely the past two years and it was so nice to have things to look forward to. Then everything started to get cancelled again. So I am just so glad to have been able to come today, it is so important and we are so thankful.
I have anxiety and depression and it was great to be together with everyone, especially love the gift bag.
It was great to see all the families and people happy before Christmas considering all the worries at the moment
This event was organised by a group of 12 youth event managers, working together since October. They designed advertising materials such as posters, researched, costed and selected activities and games to include, and even decided on the event set up and décor including risk assessment. Throughout the event, they took on leadership responsibilities such as customer service, being hosts, and more. The group were incredibly flexible and adapted quickly to changing circumstances for themselves and the audience, being required to change their event four times due to COVID-19 concerns. Originally, the event was indoor, then hybrid indoor and outdoor, then outdoor with lots of activities, and then the final paired down version and the team still delivered a wonderful event together. The group completed AQA certifications in event management, customer service, public speaking, and leadership as part of the event project at FYA.
We could not have done this without the support of:
Regents Place, Old Diorama Arts Centre, New Diorama, Remix Dance, North London Cares, One housing, Community Champions Regents Park Estate, Camden Council, Kitchen Social, Clarion Futures and #iwill, and thank you to Tesco for the donations and to students from Westminster Kingsway media and health and social care for designing the activity packs given to guests.
