Last Sunday saw a new youth-led organisation hold its first community event in Croydon to celebrate the launch of its youth services.
Held at Old Town Youth Club, Start It Right’s Family Day and Launch Party welcomed Croydon residents to take part in a range of games and activities as well as exploring different services offered to young people in the summer.
The National Lottery Community Fund supported event offered an array of activities including face painting, sports games, bouncy castle and a raffle competition.
Start It Right founder and director Alexia Lee said: “What a wonderful day! It has been immensely rewarding to be able to introduce Start It Right to local families at our first community event.
“As a community-focused organisation, we are passionate and committed to building the foundations of our youth projects within the heart of Croydon and supporting our young people to prepare for a brighter and bolder future.
“Thank you to our supporter, the National Lottery Community Fund for making this event possible and for everyone who joined us on this memorable day – we look forward to future opportunities where we can come together to commemorate the amazing community spirit of Croydon.”
Start It Right, which was set up during the pandemic, is aiming to build relationships with other organisations to improve the lives of Croydon’s young people.
As part of that, many other groups were involved in the launch day event.
The event’s sponsor, Playtime at the Pavilion, provided ample support throughout the running of the event as well as partner, local football organisation Cre8 Football, who also joined in the festivities.
Art Press and East Croydon Cool delivered a variety of arts and crafts-based activities to encourage families to get creative and take a piece of memorabilia home for the day.
The team from Asian Resource Centre Croydon were also available to deliver health checks and inform visitors of ways to boost their mental health and wellbeing.
Looking ahead, Start It Right is set to deliver its first holiday playscheme, aimed for young people ages 8-12, to take part in extracurricular activities over the summer holidays.
It also aspires to deliver other youth projects and a ‘Thrive ‘N’ Flex’ mentoring programmes for young people later on in the year and looks forward to making a viable impact in Croydon for many years to come.
