Corby’s Pen Green celebrate 40th anniversary with family arts festival

Corby’s Pen Green hosted a family arts festival at the weekend to celebrate 40 years of outstanding early years practice at their internationally renowned centre.

The event took place on Saturday, July 1 and was held in collaboration with Made With Many.

On the day there was lots to see and do such as messy play, painting, dancing and circus workshops, and there were also some curious creatures wandering around too.

You could create some things to take home with you such as a junk treasure necklace, a clay sculpture, vegetable creature, your own cyanotype, a baseball cap or even some unofficial merchandise.

During the day, they had a marching parade that went around the nearby streets where they welcomed families past and present to come and join them.

The Pen Green Centre was set up in 1983, as part of a substantive under-fives initiative. The principle functions of the centre have remained constant over the last 40 years although they have significantly developed the accommodation.

They have maintained their principles of operation; withstood radical changes in local and national government; responded creatively to new legislation and to major demographic changes, and influenced national government policy in early years.

Angela Prodger, joint head of Pen Green, said: “It’s remarkable that we’ve been able to keep going for the length of time that we have and such a great celebration after having two very difficult years around our funding.

“What’s made it even more special is Made With Many have collaborated with us because they were able to secure a grant through the Arts Council, so we’ve been able to offer such a wide range of arts and performers for children and families across the whole of the county.”

The event was attended by Corby councillors from across North Northamptonshire Council and Corby Town Council, as well as Corby MP, Tom Pursglove, and opposition candidate Lee Barron.

The event was opened by Fatima Whitbread, MBE, who visited the centre in May, to find out more about the key role they play in many aspects of family life.

Fatima said: “It’s wonderful to be back here at Pen Green, the walls ooze passion.

“It’s wonderful to see so many of the youngsters and their mums here today for the 40th anniversary. It's like a big open day and apart from that it’s integrating families together and making them realise that this is a wonderful place to come along and work with their children.

“It’s a safe haven and it’s a lifeline for many families, so I’m just a Pen Green ‘convert’.”

Adam Cooper, chair of governors at Pen Green, said: “I’d love to think we could do it for another 40 years, I’d like to see Pen Green go on forever. I’d like to see more Pen Greens elsewhere not just in this county but across the UK.

“I think the work that’s done here is so important for early years, for children and their families, to give them such a wonderful start in life and it’s sadly lacking elsewhere, so I think yes, absolutely wish for another 40, another 400 would be great.”