Oxford Road Fun Day: How small amounts of funding turn ideas into reality
Small amounts of funding help turn ideas into reality
The Oxford Road Fun Day in Reading received funding through Community First. We visited the project to show how important these small amounts of funding are to local communities.
Alison Seabrooke, Chief Executive of the Community Development Foundation
The Community Development Foundation helps to get small amounts of funding to community groups and help them turn their ideas into reality.
Luke Trimby, Oxford Road Fun Day organiser
It’s just an event that we wanted to bring to West Reading. It’s had its issues in the past; with drugs, anti-social behaviour, prostitutes, stuff like that. In the park that we’re in now, we’ve had cars burnt out in the car park just behind us.
David Wright, Oxford Road Fun Day organiser
We were looking at trying to get the community together and we thought wouldn’t it be good if we could organise a community fun day. So out of that has come the Oxford Road Fun Day which has now been going for about four years.
Alison Seabrooke
We were really pleased to support the Oxford Road Fun Day through administering a small grant which enabled it to get this activity off the ground over the course of a year, bringing together local volunteers, encouraging a real sense of pride in the place and stimulating lots of volunteering and local activity.
David Wright
Can you imagine, 9 o’clock in the morning, come through the gate, nothing. And here we are, 12 o’clock, it’s all up. People are starting to arrive, having a good time and providing we’ve got smiles on faces, we’ve succeeded and that’s what we like to see.
Teresa Colliass, Oxford Road Neighbourhood Action Group
This event helps bring groups together. The Oxford Road is made up of lots of people from different nationalities that wouldn’t necessarily mix. So I think these events do help to get people to know each other and bring down barriers.
Cathy Timmis, Oxford Road Timebank
The Timebank was launched this time last year at the Oxford Road Fun Day, so exactly a year ago. And we bring people together who are maybe vulnerable or lonely, bring them into the community and help them feel useful, build up their self-esteem. It’s a very varied community; you know, it’s really lucky, very multi-cultural. And that’s what we want the Timebank to echo.
Karen Rowland, Baker Street Area Neighbourhood Association
We feel it’s very important to be here because it gives us an opportunity to meet and mix with other organisations to find out what they’re doing and to make sure that we maintain a good contact. If we leave today having met one or two new great contacts, then our job is done.
Cllr Sarah Hacker, Deputy Mayor of Reading
I think this kind of event is really important for the local community. Not only does it give people something fun to do on a July afternoon, but it also gives people the chance to find out what’s happening in their neighbourhood, looking at the different groups there are that they may wish to join or they may want to seek help from.
Alison Seabrooke
Well small pots of funding often have a really catalytic effect, which means that they actually stimulate people to come together and to do something which they want to achieve in their community. And it might be just addressing a local problem, but it might be, like with the Oxford Road Fun Day, bringing lots of people together to celebrate their community.
Cllr Sarah Hacker
And also, you know, no one wants to give up the opportunity for a bit of candy floss… and a go on a fire engine!
Small amounts of funding help turn ideas into reality.
– See more at: http://cdf.org.uk/content/about-cdf/watch-what-we-do/cdf-video#sthash.7VdK9pw6.dpuf
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