Witches, Werewolves and Wednesdays in the Woods

It’s always a challenge trying to figure out ways to bring people together and keep the kids entertained in a cheap and cheerful way but we think our first Halloween walk was pretty well received and tickets sold out within a couple of days.

At 4pm on Tuesday 24th October St Annes Community Centre was overtaken by Witches, Werewolves and Wednesday’s! Ater being greeted by Angela and her crystal ball they entered into the fabulously decorated hall. We had a parade of all the amazing costumes and winners were chosen by randomly selected guest judges on the evening. Accompanied by some aliens and vampires, the young people enjoyed some games including musical statues and pass the parcel. Fuelled by a bit of food and hot chocolate it was eye balls down for a couple of games of bingo, expertly called by two young community members.

Then we got our wellies, glowsticks, coats and torches and set off on the 1.8 mile walk. There were some surprises on the way including a coffin, headless knight and a witches coven. The children were particularly surprised to find a dinosaur roaming the woods of Beech Hill! Who knew?

The young people in the community were outstanding both in the planning, implementation and participation. We had family craft club decorating pumpkins and milk bottles, Alexa and Alyse helping with the games and calling bingo. Isaac and Michael who dressed up and also spent the whole day putting decorations out in the woods and taking them down when everyone had gone home.

It took weeks of planning by Lisa and Gill, some creative magic from Val, Susan and others who attend the Make it Mine sessions, including Irene who gave up her day to prepare the hall. We also can’t do things like this without people like Laura and Sandra helping in the kitchen, Phil and Michael for building the props, Phil doing numerous van trips throughout the day and Alice turning up with drills and glue guns.

We’d also like to thank the local farms and businesses who allowed us to put things up on their land and supported the idea.

We have a feeling that this will be something that might grow into a new community tradition, with people already suggesting bigger and better ideas for next year. We’re always chuffed when new people get involved so if you fancy getting involved in planning events like this or next year’s Halloween event get in touch!

Tickets were priced at £1 for the children. Overall we took £48 in ticket money, £12 from face painting and hot dogs adults drinks and £4 in donations. We spent £48 on food and bits as we had some money left over from Holiday Activity Funded community play and Northern Heart and Soul supported with some costs. That means we have £16 to go into the playbox fund. A total of £46 in the Playbox fund.