Fun Palaces 01/10/22

On Saturday the 1st of October 2022 a Fun Palaces event organised by local charity Jigsaw, with support from South Gloucestershire Council’s Regeneration Team, took place in the St Mary Centre and in ten other locations around Thornbury High Street.

In the St Mary Centre a sparkle photo booth from Brain Tumour Support, Krunch Southwest youth team with glitter tattoos and stone painting, flower posies with Jolies Fleurs and Thornbury Community Composting led a recycling challenge, while JIGSAW Thornbury’s Young Volunteers ran a community cafe and other fun youth-led activities.

There were also over 1000 visitors to Thornbury Library, which hosted 5 different activities including braille name badge making, rhymetime, read to the therapy dog, U3A family history research advice and meet a roman soldier from Thornbury and District Heritage Trust.

Visitors could also have a try at street dance with BALPA, Music with Mummy, antenatal taster classes, Halloween crafts with South Gloucestershire Community Learning and Skills, Shrektastic crafts with Thornbury Music Group and various more physical activities such as table cricket, table tennis, triathlon and running at various pubs, church halls and even at the Mundy Playing fields where Thornbury Rotary had their Walkathon stand.

Hattie Clayton, Interim CEO at JIGSAW Thornbury was part of the organising committee and says: “We are so proud of the part we played in bringing the community together.  It was really exciting to see the event grow from last year with so many local people, groups, and businesses taking part in the event by sharing skills and hosting activities.  A great opportunity too for us to raise awareness of the work we do with children and young people with additional needs and their families”

In attendance on the day, The Mayor of Thornbury said on the day “It is great to see the community of Thornbury coming together for the Thornbury Fun Palace event.  A big thank you to JIGSAW Thornbury and South Gloucestershire Council Regeneration Team for organising such a fabulous fun, free event”

Thornbury Fun Palace was co-produced by JIGSAW Thornbury, South Gloucestershire Council with support from St Mary Centre, My Thornbury, The Swan Pub, Thornbury Rotary and the Inner Wheel.