On Saturday 19 August we held our first ever Family Fun Day at The Cottage, Thorpe St Andrew Norwich.
After a big downpour of rain the night before, thankfully the skies cleared and we enjoyed beautiful sunshine all day, from 12-4pm.
There were lots of free activities (though donations were welcomed) including the opportunity to try Pétanque from Norwich Pétanque Club and listen to stories from Norwich bookstore, Bookbugs and Dragon Tales, in their storytelling garden. There was a bouncy castle, face painting from Crazy Skins and balloon modelling from Danny Marino too.
Our team from Sue Lambert Trust ran several stalls. A big thank you to the support we had from lots of volunteers on the day, who were all amazing! We ran a ‘guess the name of the summer penguin’ stall, who was later revealed to be called Pip and he sported a lovely summer shirt and sunglasses and has now gone to his new home; ‘Guess the number of sweets in the jar’, a pirate treasure game, and the ‘water or wine?’ stall which was made possible thanks to a donation of wine from Peter Graham wines. Visitors picked a bottle to find out if they’d selected water or wine, with wine being marked by a star on the lid for the winners.
Our tombola was by far the most popular stall, we started with nearly 100 prizes and sold out before the halfway point!
We also had a cake stall running thanks to many kind donations from staff and volunteers and a big donation of 23 loaf cakes from Shire Foods East Anglia which was amazing!
Inside The Cottage function room we had our stallholders, ranging from Liz’s Totally Tropic, Arthur Sixpence selling jewellery and items such a guitar picks made out of coins, Wax and Unwind selling their beautiful wax melts and soap sponges, Bluebell art and craft selling prints, mugs, t-shirts and Delightful Doorstops with their fabric creations.
Live music was provided by the incredible McLovens who created a great atmosphere and encouraged audience participation inviting children to join the band and play tambourine. Very generously, they donated their time for free and raised money for our charity through their busker collection too – a huge thank you.
Throughout the day we sold raffle tickets for the chance to win some great prizes from local businesses including Hippodrome Circus, Pensthorpe, Fairhaven, Riverside Leisure Centre, The Bug Parc, Archers Butchers, The Beauty Hut, Roys’ and more including gifts from all our wonderful stallholders. The big draw took place at the end of the day, with winners going home with their wonderful prizes.
Finally, we need to say another thank you to The Cottage who kindly donated the use of their venue and ran the BBQ raising £150 for our charity. Your Move Bennetts also supported us by helping to promote the event on their house boards, and kindly donated £10 per board placed raising a total of £170 too.
It was our first Family Fun Day and a big success, thanks to everyone’s support.
The final total raised was £1499.39 which Anna our Digital Fundraising and Engagement Officer rounded up to £1500!
Thank you to everyone that got involved and supported this event we couldn’t have done it without you!