The Sudbury Market Town Partnership has secured Big Lottery funding to go ahead with plans to ‘Celebrate England’ on the weekend of 22 and 23 April 2017 – 23 April is, of course, St George’s Day. On Saturday 22 April, there will be a Charity Roadshow and workshops from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in The Quay Theatre and The Jetty in Quay (…) Lane, Sudbury. Each workshop will offer ‘10 Top Tips’ for voluntary and community organisations on topics as varied as Writing Good Funding Applications, Recruiting and Managing Volunteers, Marketing and Publicity, Managing a Group’s Finances, Advocacy Skills, Managing Effective Meetings, Smarter Working with IT, Speaking and Presentation Skills. All sessions are offered without charge.
At 4.00 p.m. at the end of the Roadshow there will be a Volunteer Awards Ceremony, where it is planned to acknowledge members of the local community who volunteer within organisations. Each organisation is invited to nominate someone they think is worthy of an award and the three finalists in each category will be invited to attend, with the winners being announced during the event.
On Sunday 23 April, there will be a St George’s Day celebration event, a traditional country-style fair on the Cricket Club ground, in Quay Lane, Sudbury, with lots of stalls from the voluntary and community sector, competitions for children, including fancy dress on the theme of St George, and various kinds of entertainment. It is hoped that local schools will encourage their pupils to enter the competitions for poetry, prose, drawing, painting and sculpture. Organisations will be encouraged to offer stalls which will help raise funds for their good cause. The theme of the competitions will, of course, be around St George and the Dragon! The Cricket Club will have their bar open and will also be offering barbeque food.
It is also hoped that sports clubs in Quay Lane will be able to offer ‘taster’ sessions to encourage more young people to take part.
Further information will be circulated at Sudbury on Show on 4 March in St Peter’s and the Town Hall in Sudbury, but in the meantime, as places for the two events will have to be limited, voluntary and community groups and charities wishing to take part on either or both days are invited to contact Lesley Ford-Platt on lesleyfordplatt@rocketmail.com or 01787 372171 for more information.
At the end of January, there will also be information on the SMTP web site: www.sudburymarkettownpartnership.org along with application forms for both the Charity Roadshow and the St George’s Day Country Fair. The event will be widely publicised and it is also hoped to offer a Park and Ride service from the Delphi car park to Quay Lane.