Family Fun Day 2026 a great success

This report explains in words and pictures what a wonderful time we had on Saturday 12th September 2026, as we held our first community event on the public open space at the back of Herdwick Fold.

Working with Platform Housing, Orbit Housing, Stour Health and Wellbeing Partnership (SHWP) and Stratford District Council we invited residents from six new developments in Shipston to come along, bringing our communities together.

Those developments are: Herdwick Gate; Herdwick Fold; Foxgloves; Shepherd’s Gate; Shipston Gardens and Chapel View - a total of 549 homes.

Residents of all ages turned out. The bouncy castle was very popular, as was the ice cream van (with delicious Marshfield Farm ice cream), and our face painting lady transformed children into assorted creatures such as zebras and unicorns, with lots of glitter sprinkled for good measure.

Also there were Shipston First Responders; SHWP Toy Library; Shipston Rotary Club; Shipston Women’s Institute (amazing cakes!); Co-op Community (thanks for the refreshments); Shipston Bookfest; Barnardo’s/Badger Valley Centre (kids archery and axe throwing); Talking Therapies (NHS); Veterans Contact Point and Stour Action For the Environment (SAFE).

The weather was kind apart from an unwelcome breeze, with occasional gusts testing the ground pegs securing a number of gazebos.

It really was a family fun day. We hope to do it again next year.

Here are some photos from the day, with thanks to Chris Reed.