The community comes together for Silver Tea and Tots activity event

The day of fun was held on Thursday, October 5, as part of the centre’s community outreach project, funded by the VINCI Foundation. The event was organised to support the national Silver Sunday initiative aimed at celebrating the value that older people contribute to communities, while combating isolation.

Rebecca Lapraik, a volunteer at the Playcentre, said: “The event took place in the Village Hall in Walberton with teas made by the Mothers Union and cakes supplied by Playcentre families. Around 20 local elderly people joined us for the afternoon, accompanied by carers. Around 15 pre-school age children from the Playcenre were brought across to the Village Hall by the Playcentre staff.

Although the children were initially a little shy, they soon warmed up, particularly as Clare from Little Movers started her session. The session involved a large parachute music and singing (with everyone young and old participating!), followed by a chance for some of the grown ups to read stories and play puzzles with the little ones. The afternoon was rounded off with tea and cakes. The session was a great success with joy and delight visible on everyone’s faces. Needless to say there were many requests for the event to be repeated so we will be looking at organising further similar events in the future.”