21
Dec
Time Left
Christmas Community Dinner 2018
Our annual Christmas Communiy Dinner was held on Friday 21st December and it was fantastic to see over 250 people coming together at a time of year that can be quite isolating for both young people and older members of the community.
Guests were welcomed and served by 50 young people acting as stewards for the event. Hosts entertained the audience festive jokes and facts and a Christmas Quiz, along with performances from Katie and Inshi, Rebecca Promise, The Diorama Line Dancers, Keyboard Kiyan, Yasmin McColl and Emma Ilunga. Lots of guests won raffle prizes from a Christmas quiz and bingo too.
One of the local residents said ‘I felt that I had to briefly say how very much I enjoyed this afternoon’s dinner. It was heart-warming to see all those splendid young people working so well and giving of their time to make a totally splendid afternoon out for so many of us. I am immensely grateful so thank you very much once again.’ Another noted ‘I feel as though I belong in the community a bit more,’ whilst another said ‘The stewards were fantastic. The decorations, music, entertainment, hospitality, Fitzrovia at its best.’ Another stated ‘My Christmas spirit went from 1 to 10, it was so fun.’ A number of guests also commented how multicultural and intergenerational the event was, creating a welcoming atmosphere and community spirit. 88% of our guests rated the event as brilliant or good, 75% of guests stated that they met new people at the event that they did not know before, with 50% of the attendees stating they had an increased sense of belonging to this community.
There was a slight issue with the Bingo this year, which we will look at for the future – but our young hosts did brilliantly and it even meant we had some suprise performances from some young members of the audience and lots of people still went home with prizes and a festive feeling!
Thank you to Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association, North London Cares, All Souls Clubhouse, Third Age Project, Aging Better Camden and Bengali Workers Association for promoting the event to their members.
We would also like to thank Facebook and Entertainment One for their support of the event, who met with the group to hear their ideas, and then made lots of the decorations to help their vision come to life, some even volunteering to help set up the event.
And finally thank you to everyone who joined us for the event!
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- Christmas Hosts
CREDIT: Photos by Shafi Rahman, Infinite Edge
The event was organised by a steering group of Youth Event Managers, who designed the promotional material, decided the activities such as the quiz and then created their own questions, the room set up and decorations, the risk assessment and wrote their own briefing for staff and stewards. During the event they also undertook key leadership roles during the event as hosts and customer service team leaders in their areas. As part of the project, the group have achieved AQA qualifications in event management, customer service, and some have achieved public speaking via briefing their fellow stewards or as hosts.
If you would like to find out more about our youth leadership programme including how to get involved in our community events, please contact Ellie.Rudd@fya.org.uk
