Over 700 residents from the Barne Barton community gathered at Barney Park to enjoy a day of fun and activities.
The event was a collaborative effort by The Pioneers Project, Community Builders, and Barnardos, aiming to bring the community together with funding from the North Yard Community Trust, local councillors, Plymouth City Council and LiveWest. It featured a variety of activities including face painting, football, pizza making, a bouncy castle, a slip and slide, arts and crafts, and even an interactive pop-up escape room. It was an exciting opportunity for local businesses and community projects to showcase their services and for residents to enjoy a day of entertainment.
Plymouth Community Homes (PCH) attended the event, where staff from Tenancy Management in collaboration with the Health & Housing Project manned the stand.
It was a great opportunity for PCH to be in the community socialising with residents from Barne Barton and the surrounding areas. The PCH stand offered pebble painting, colouring and supported by Food is Fun to provide some healthy food recipes and talk about making healthy food swaps.
Nicola Street, Housing Officer at Plymouth Community Homes said “It was a great chance for us to talk to residents, finding out what they like about their estates and what they would like to see improved, as well as any problems accessing services, reporting antisocial behaviour and encouraging community cohesion.”
One of the key coordinators of the event was The Pioneers Project, a program dedicated to providing support to children, young people, and families in need throughout Plymouth, South East Cornwall, and the South Hams in the UK. During the event, they generously offered a selection of free food options for children and an enticing buy-one-get-one-free deal for adults.
We spoke to Karen Pilkington, a Connector at Belong in Plymouth, funded by Plymouth Octopus Project. Karen explained the project's main goal is to address social isolation in the Barne Barton and St. Budeaux. Achieved by facilitating co-design activities and organising interactive events to bring residents, communities and projects together.
Belong in Plymouth set-up a popular pop-up escape room on the day, featuring star actor of the day Jay Jay from By the Horns Theatre Company, a theatre initiative that collaborates with national charities and voice their message within a theatrical context and Escapism Plymouth, a local escape room company. They provided an entertaining and immersive experience for children and parents with a variety of show times throughout the day.
Susan, a resident from Crownhill who attended with her granddaughter said: “They have done an amazing job, free food for children is amazing and my granddaughter hasn't stopped all day, she has absolutely loved it. They have made everyone proud.”
