The Stoke Village Summer of Fun

• Raised £7,603 from 65 supporters
• +£1,000 Extra funding from Sovereign Thriving Communities
• Supporting the Stoke Village Fun Day and art & music activities in Blockhouse Park throughout Summer 2022.

Following the success of the Stoke Village Fun Day 2019, The Village Hub, Stoke Traders and Residents Association (STARS), and Diverse Events CIC once again brought Stoke Village alive with their annual Fun Day event on 17th July 2022.

This year they wanted to go even bigger – taking over more of Blockhouse Park, and extending their Summer Events to run during July, August and September, with brand new art activities, and the return of Sunset Sounds.

The Village Hub is a place for residents of Stoke & Morice Town to meet, create, care and grow. The activities radiate outwards from a previously disused retail space on the high street in Stoke Village that they took on and renovated in Autumn 2020.

Their mission is to build on existing community spirit, working with local people to bring a bit more colour into the local area. They work on the frontline providing opportunities that enable anyone in the community to connect through learning, signposting, cultural activities and having fun in a safe and caring environment. The Village Hub host a Community Larder, a local Veg Box scheme, regular drop-in & advice sessions, community litter-picks, peer learning workshops, a monthly Culture Club, and art & craft and gardening groups.

They needed to raise £6,500 to help bring their vision to life, and Crowdfunder pledges went towards:

• Stoke Village Fun Day – A full day of entertainment is planned, bringing the village alive. We can look forward to stalls, inflatables, live music and entertainment, as well as a dog show!
• Summer Art Activities – Free art workshops during July, August & September, exploring the nature, culture and heritage of Blockhouse Park. Tryout making Sun Prints, have a go at Leaf Pounding, or even get high-tech and make something in Augmented Reality!!
• Sunset Sounds – Open-air live music events at the top of Blockhouse Park, in the historic redoubt fort. Enjoy the amazing panoramic views across Plymouth, and soak up some weird and wonderful sounds!

All of this came together and the Stoke Village Summer of Fun was ready to go!

Karen and the Village Hub Team, told us; “We wanted to put on a Summer of Fun after the endless weariness of the pandemic.  People were still reluctant to come out and socialise and we wanted to be seen to be able to do this safely and with regards to each other’s points of view. It was a sense that there is light at the end of a long tunnel.”

“We were also aware that we only wanted to do stuff our community was interested in, so felt that crowdfunder would be a good place to test our engagement and see if that was what local people really wanted.”

The crowd rallied around their project, with one supporter commenting;

“I am so excited for events in the park… Thanks to the amazing team and all the love they put into support long Stoke Village!”

In the end, the Stoke Village Summer of Fun team beat their initial target and went on to raise £7,603 from 65 members of the community. This included £1,000 in funding from the Sovereign Thriving Communities fund.

The Village Hub Team went on to say; “Unlocking the extra funding from the Sovereign Thriving Communities fund meant that the job of gaining smaller donations to reach our target became much easier. It was also the first bit of match funding we received and it gave us a tremendous confidence boost that our project was of interest to other funders and was likely to be met with enthusiasm.”

“Our area is home to many social housing tenants and so it was important to us that Social Housing Providers felt we could be of benefit to their tenants. In all the stuff we do, we strive to be completely accessible and the reason we were looking for funding to support events was that we wanted them to be free for local people to access. This became especially important as the credit crunch and energy crisis became headline news at the same time was we launched the crowdfunder.”

The team added; “The funding allowed us to have a successful fun day and pay all the related admin costs – road closure, security, ambulance service, fees to the local authority, stages, hire of generators etc, as well as run  14 further smaller workshops within the local park focussing on art, creativity and the natural environment.”

Since crowdfunding we have gained a reputation in the city as being able to punch above our weight. We have been able to host a huge amount of summer activity for a very small organisation with a limited amount of money.”

“We are also becoming very well known in our local area. One of our visitors, Trevor, said recently, ‘Every place should have a Village Hub like this’. We have also become much better known to families with children. Another visitor, the Flood Family, said, ‘My husband went to a number of events on Wednesdays with my boys over the summer as well as the Bronze Age Cups Workshop. They all absolutely loved them. So, we just want to say thank you so much and keep up your amazing work.’”

“One impact is a growing interest from local people to set up a toddler group themselves with our support that could be self-led and self-funded.”

After such a successful first experience of crowdfunding, and receiving the +Extra funding from Sovereign Housing, we asked the Village Hub team to share their views on fundraising with Crowdfunder:

“Crowdfunder provided an easy to access platform. It was fairly simple to set up and we had fun thinking about and designing relevant awards. It gave us a great opportunity to “sell ourselves” on social media, was super easy to share on all online platforms.”

Feeling inspired? Find out if you could receive up to £10,000 from the Sovereign Thriving Communities fund!