A Secret Picnic

Greater Creative hosted ‘The Secret Picnic’ by Creative People and Places (CPP) organisers ‘First Art’, opening the gates to Blackwell Cricket Ground for the wider community to enjoy the nostalgic greenspace. 145 residents were invited to the secret picnic, with 140 attending the day.

The event featured top notch performances and family workshops (socially distanced of course), each family got their own spot with picnic blanket, deck chairs, picnic basket filled with scrummy food, a side table and décor, crafting goodies, ribbon wands and the legendary sweat bands and tins of beans for the exercise class!

The event kicked off with exuberant compere Tracey (Sarah Blanc), your average Olivia Newton-John loving, Royal family obsessed, working mens club chair-based aerobics instructor from Dagenham. Her broad East London accent really got the families getting physical on their deck chairs, babes!

“My kids have been wearing their sweat bands non-stop and everything is ‘babes this and babes that’.. we all loved the day so much!, Thank you”

 

– A comment from a mother who attended the event

 

The ‘Nah Then..’ Deep Derbyshire Tea Ladies were back out and about amongst the picnics spots having many a chin wag ducky, not only brewing up the residents teas, but brewing up their ideas and hopes for the community.

“Much more fun than a questionnaire in’t it? having a good rattle to them about what you hope to see happening!” 

– A comment from a resident

Then the show kicked off with circus performers from The Circus House:

 

and then the insanely talented comic and magical variety performer Mat Ricardo

 

 

Then everyone got stuck into some circus skills workshops: Lots of fun was had. LOTS!

 

“The atmosphere feels so warm and electric, I’m just as excited as the picnic parties!’ (comment after seating people in their picnic spots

 

– Jodie Cresswell-Waring, Co-Director at Platform Thirty1)

 

To finish off, our very own ‘Great Blackwell Bakeoff’ creative cake decorating competition, with some mixed results shall we say 😉

 

A wonderful time was had by all, thank you so much to First Art and our amazing Greater Creative working party and volunteers…Same time next year?

This blog was originally posted by Platform Thirty1 and all photo credits go to Dean Leivers.