community centre week - Octopus Community Network

I love my ity n u m m o c centre

Community Centre Week is an annual event. It is aimed at people like you who run, work in or volunteer at a community centre. It provides an opportunity to come together with others, to showcase the invaluable work that you do. It’s a great opportunity to stage a special event or celebration, or simply bring your community together to capture the spirit of your centre.

y t i n u m m ek co e w re t n e 016 c 2 y l Ju 25th – h t 19

ing Com er eth l tog rea a es mak nce e r e diff ur in o ty uni m com

We all know that community centres are

amazing, responsive, and inspiring. Best of all, they are community-led. Community Centre Week gives us all the opportunity to celebrate what we love about them. Basically, it’s all about people. It’s about the people who welcome us, the space they provide for us, a welcoming home from home for many, a place to learn new things and meet different people.

Follow u s on @CCWe ekUK #l oveyou rcc Follow u s on ccweek uk

Illustrations by Freepik

I love my ity commun e centr

WE’RE SURE you can come up

with loads of ideas to get your community participating and celebrating but here are our

TOP T IPS – just to get you started. 1. SPREAD T HE WORD. On social media tell your followers about the campaign, ask them to participate and don’t forget to always use #loveyourcc and @CCWeekUK. 2. F IRE UP SOME COMPET IT ION. Run an inter-generational activity to design CCWeekUK t-shirts, cloth bags or tea towels that carry messages to say why community centres are loved. Add a bit of competition and offer prizes for the best in each category. Don’t forget to post your pictures on social media, and give your cloth creation to someone you love! 3. SHARE MESSAGES. Jazz up your tree, fence or wall. Encourage your local community to write messages on bunting hung around your centre (or provide the materials to create your own), supply the materials (ribbons, labels) to create a message tree. Not got a tree? - then use a fence, not got a fence … you must have a wall! 4. GET CREAT IV E. Encourage your choir, poetry or singing group to come up with a unique CCWeekUK song, poem or short story that sums up what they love about community centres. Post pictures c o m mu n i t y or videos on Facebook or Twitter centre week – to inspire others 19th – 25th Ju and share the love! ly 2016

5. ORGANISE A BBQ OR T EA DANCE. No description IT Y needed – there’s MUN M O always more than C S ic, T RE N one good reason E get C r e en to have a getfer l of , of l e l u f together and let eop are to g p n throw a few s i e pir pac shapes on the ins un e s v s r i t n a o dance floor! ati cre e gin hav a d im n d, a 6. CREAT E AN wil at gre EXHIBIT ION. es liti Encourage your community i c fa . to bring along personal stories too about the neighbourhood or the community centre and share old photos that capture key points in time. Post your exhibition and key stories online. 7. HAV E A BAKE-OF F. What’s better than having a bake-off competition to celebrate what we love about community centres – just how creative can people get with the logo, the @CCWeekUK or #loveyourcc? Organize a competition for the most creative or imaginative bake. Post your pictures on Facebook and Twitter. 8. CREAT E A POP UP PARK. Create your own pop up park, indoors or out, organize a picnic, make kites (carrying the @CCWeekUK and #loveyourcc) – encourage everyone to bring something to create their own unique park for the day- or the entire week! 9. P HOTO EXHIBIT ION AND COMPET IT ION. Encourage your young people to take photos or make a short film that sum up what their community centre means to them, ask them to create and host an exhibition or a screening, and post their creations on Facebook and Twitter.

P art

icip

ate!

! ate r b e Cel


I love my ity n u m m o c centre

What: _______________________________________________________ When: _______________________________________________________ Where: _______________________________________________________

y t i n u c o m m eek w e r t n ce

Follow u s on @CCWe ekUK #l oveyou rcc Follow u s on ccweek uk

2016 y l u J 5th 19th – 2


I love my ity commun e centr

WE ARE HUGE FANS OF T HE

POP-UP PARK!

Have you and your neighbours often looked at an under-used and unloved green space, or a piece of vacant land in your neighbourhood and thought it could be better used? If so, by getting together, along with securing the permission you need, you could bring these spaces alive by transforming them into a temporary Pop-Up Park. What is a Pop-Up Park? A Pop-Up Park is a simple and cost effective way to temporarily transform your local green space, open space or street into an imaginative outdoor space. A Pop-Up Park can be a great way to connect people, places, and encourage outdoor, natural and imaginative play, and physical activity for children and young people. As a ‘green stopping place’ a Pop-Up Park provides an opportunity for you and your friends to linger and enjoy being outdoors.

comm unity centr e wee k 19th – 25th July 2 016

What do you need to create a Pop-Up Park? Well, this depends on how imaginative you are, and of course, the space and the length of time you want the PopUp Park to exist. Day Pop-Up Parks can take on any form you, your friends and neighbours can imagine. By organising the Pop-Up Park together you can all bring along the essential elements – from deckchairs and sun loungers, to picnic blankets or folding tables. You could designate a small area as a Pop-Up Meadow or Herb Garden or Veggie Patch. You might encourage people to bring books to read, or have a selection of physical games (e.g. Twister) and board games (Scrabble or Chess) so that people can join in. Keep in mind that you will be responsible for keeping the space safe, so health and safety must be a priority concern, as will be tidying up and returning the space you use back to the way you found it. So, you will need to ensure that everyone is involved in the clean-up process, which must be an essential part of your exit strategy.
