Make Sunday Special 2015

Make Sunday Special 2015

Event summary

Family friendly, alcohol free event, featuring contemporary World Music, headlined by 47 Soul. Food, Stalls, Dance, Performances and Film as well as 'Get Active' workshops including Sport & Fitness, Science & Nature and Art & Craft.

Event background

Make Sunday Special (MSS) was a Bristol City Council led programme, delivering events in and around Corn Street in the Old City, on the first Sunday of each month. In 2015, MSS came to Bristol's neighbourhoods, as well as keeping the fun going in the city centre.

Our local event in Stapleton Road (23 August 2015) took place as part of this wider programme.

Ideas for Make Sunday Special Stapleton Road came from a public meeting at the Trinity Centre, attended by over 40 local residents, traders, artists and community organisations. The group wanted to see lots of activities for children and families, as well as food and music that represented the community - 'the world on one street'.

Project steering group

From the initial meeting, a steering group was formed, made up of a range of community, resident and trader representatives. This helped us to balance the interests of the different parties involved.

Steering group members:

Pat Usherwood (Stapleton Road Residents Group), Sonny Richards (Stapleton Road Traders Assc), Antonio Jordan (Felix Watch), Emma Harvey & Ripley Bullock (Trinity Community Arts), Stacy Yelland and Lorena Alvarez (Up Our Street), Clara Shuma (Afrika Eye), Cameron Bate (Easton Leisure Centre).

Event highlights

Having the ability to programme a diverse live-music and arts offer for the street brought people out to dance and celebrate in a way not usually seen on this street. In spite of the weather, those who turned out really enjoyed the activities that were on offer. Activity providers that did push through weather engaged the public well, in particular the offer for children.

In particular, children enjoyed taking part in circus activities including stilt-walking and tight-rope walking, provided by the Invisible Youth! It was great for children to have the chance to skip and play freely in the middle of the street, facilitated by Playing Out, who got everyone involved in chalking on the pavement. Literati and Mufti provided indoor activities in the Trinity Centre and Stapelton Road Chapel and all had strong engagement from the community in their offer.

Easton Leisure Centre provided a great activity day as part of the event, offering tasters in classes and activities from Sea-Scooters to Zumba - it gave people the chance to try out something different, have some fun and get fit in the process.

People we spoked to on the day said it was just great to see something like this happening in the area as, with lots of things happening elsewhere, people felt that Stapleton Road often gets forgotten or left out. Traders and residents on the day said that the event was a great opportunity to have a positive public event for Stapleton Road.

'' The event had a lovely atmosphere''

''A wonderful showcase of Stapleton Road....had a great day''

“Kids love the circus and dance activities!''

''Just wish it was less wet!”

Future plans

If only we'd had sunshine! It's fair to say that the torrential rain put many people off. However, this did mean that those who did attend were from the immediate and local area who came out to see what was going on. Others braved it and came out in their wet-weather gear to take part and dance along with Bristol Samba and World Jungle Samba and everyone who came said that they just wished the weather had been better for us all.

As this was the first event, traders did not quite know what to expect! But hopefully, now that they have seen the first event along Stapleton Road, they will be keen to get involved in future events and benefit from the audience brought out by the event.

Event supporters

Trinity would like to say a big thank you to all those who came along to the first Make Sunday Special Stapleton Road. In spite of the weather, over 1,100 people came out to celebrate 'The World On One Street' and bring some good vibes to the neighbourhood. Thank you to all those who took part!

Special thanks go to:

• Bristol City Council for generously funding the costs of the event
• Steering group members for their time, effort and dedication
• Generous suppliers including Renteq, MJ Church and Kings Sound Reinforcement
• Activity providers for braving the weather and engaging children and young people in fun, creative activities
• NCS Engage young volunteers for sticking it out on a long, wet day and helping to collect donations toward event costs
• The Trinity team for their hard work and unrelenting commitment to delivering great events for the community
• Volunteer photographers Khali Ackford (images, top and below-left) and Jessica Bartolini (images, centre and below-right)
• Var from Telling Tales Film (view above)