It was a case of wellies on and brollies up at Southampton Vineyard Church’s (SVC) community fun day at Riverside Park on Sunday afternoon, which went ahead despite poor weather.

Organiser Jo Williams previously explained: “After the pressures and challenges of the past two years we just wanted to create an opportunity for the local community to have some joy and fun.”

As well as large bouncy castle-style inflatables and various activities such as Lego and face painting, there was also a variety of stalls – luckily mostly protected under gazebos – from local traders and community groups.

These of course included a stall from SVC as well as the Real Nappy Network, the Friends of Bitterne Station, Bitterne Park Growing Places and Communibakes – a community bakery based in Shirley, set up by the charity Communicare.

Several organisers, who’d apparently been on site preparing in the rain all morning, reported being very cold and wet. But the weather did let up somewhat at times, and a surprising number of mainly families seemed to be enjoying the activities, the refreshments, and socialising.

So will there be another similar event from SVC?

“Somebody asked me if we’ll run this every year and I’m not sure yet,” laughed Jo when we caught up with her during the afternoon.

“We’ll see how we feel at the end of this!”

 

It was rather damp but still a great event! https://t.co/eCLutfnr4E

— David Fuller (@D_J_Fuller) May 15, 2022