Corby’s Pen Green to host family arts festival to celebrate their 40th anniversary

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

The event is taking place on Saturday, July 1, from 10am to 4pm with a marching parade beginning at 1pm. Everyone is welcome to come along from 12.30pm.

The event will be opened by Fatima Whitbread MBE, who visited the centre last month.

On the day there will be lots to see and lots to do such as messy play, painting, dancing and circus workshops, and families shouldn’t be surprised to see some curious creatures wandering around too.

You can also 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 make some unofficial merchandise.

The marching parade will go around the nearby streets and they are welcoming families past and present to come and join them.

Funded by Arts Council England and informed by a community panel of local families, it is the biggest project yet undertaken as a co-production between Made With Many and Pen Green.

Angela Prodger, joint head of Pen Green, said: “We are thrilled to be working in collaboration with Made With Many to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Pen Green Integrated Centre with a truly momentous family festival.”

The two organisations sparked off a relationship in 2018, when Dr Margy Whalley CBE featured in Made With Many’s Living Legends: Hidden Histories project for her role in conceptualising and opening Pen Green as a fully integrated centre for children and families in 1983, thus creating the first Sure Start centre in the country.

40 years later, The Pen Green Centre for Children and Families continue to pioneer innovative and effective ways of working with the most disadvantaged families today and the services are in ever-increasing demand, with many families facing difficulties due to the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

Made With Many have joined forces in some of these efforts too, to support maternal mental health through creative activities with new mums and their babies, as well as collaborating on producing artwork for Grow Festival and other innovative early years arts experiences.

Whilst this Family Arts Festival has been designed around families with younger children, there will be lots of options that the whole family can enjoy, with many activities suitable for children with additional needs or complex needs in mind.

Tracy Gallagher, joint head of Pen Green, said: “Colleagues from Made With Many have worked closely with the staff at Pen Green to organise a magnificent celebration which includes a range of events and entertainers for the children and families to join in.

“This will be a magnificent celebration for the children and families, we are all looking forward to a fun-filled day.”

Vicky Frayard, head of creative programme at Made With Many, said: “We’re taking over the building and gardens at Pen Green Centre, filling nooks and crannies with things to enjoy including a huge hungry caterpillar, a coral garden interactive dome and a giant blanket fort.

“We’d love you to come along in your favourite colours, bring a picnic and get stuck in.”

For more details visit the Made With Many website.