Hosted by HAF Llandrindod, this year’s National Play Day at the Lake saw a record-breaking 1000 visitors.
National Play Day, which took place on Wednesday 3rd August, was a chance for families to experience some free fun, with a fantastic range of activities put together by summer coordinator Nikki Davies. The national theme for this year’s play day ‘All to play for- building play opportunities for all children,’ was on full display at Llandrindod Lake, where staff from HAF Llandrindod, Llandrindod Wells Working Together, and Severn Wye (plus a team of fabulous volunteers) came together to provide play opportunities for the children of the town.
The HAF Llandrindod summer programme is the result of a period of extensive coproduction and collaboration with families in Llandrindod Wells, which was carried out at the beginning of the Llandrindod Wells Working Together project, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. The summer holidays were highlighted as a particularly challenging time for parents, who often found it difficult to provide activities for their children during this period, particularly if they don’t have access to a car.
Delivered in partnership with Play Radnor, the HAF Llandrindod summer programme is now into its third year and is bigger than ever before. The National Play Day is always one of the highlights of the programme, and this year was no exception. An amazing array of activities were on offer throughout the day, including skateboarding, pottery painting, smoothie bikes, African drumming, mandala making, graffiti spraying and much much more! Over the course of the day the pottery had to be restocked, five ‘fruit runs’ were made to the local shops to make more than 200 smoothies, and the drumming instructor had a drum shortage- 30 drums just wasn’t enough!
We had the opportunity to chat with parents and children across the day, to ask them what makes the HAF Llandrindod programme so special. Local Dad Shaun, who was involved with the project at the coproduction stage, expressed his appreciation for the project:
“Before this came along, there was nothing to do in the town, especially if you don’t have a car. Even if you had a car you’d have to go to Hereford or Abergavenny. Now we know all this will be going on, it’s brilliant.”
A mum who’d been having fun painting pottery appreciated how reliable the HAF project has become:
“It’s here every year, the kids love it and it’s something to look forward to.”
Other parents also praised the variety of activities on offer:
“It’s great that there’s so much to do. The kids have really enjoyed it.”
National Play Day highlights the importance of play and its vital role in supporting the wellbeing of children and their families. Play allows children to try new activities, make friends, develop connections to their communities and make sense of the world around them. We’re thrilled that this year’s play day in Llandrindod was such a success- here’s to the power of play!
But that’s not all for the summer of fun! There are a range of fantastic events going on right through August, including a circus skills and aerial workshop, a chance to meet the animals of Pentre Farm, Impelo dance workshops and a range of arts and crafts activities. You can see the full programme at the Llandrindod Wells Working Together website.
