A new fun-filled community event in Castletown will take place in a few weeks time after the volunteers who pushed for its inclusion in the calendar received crucial support and funding.
Called the Southern Fun Day, the day long event will be held at Castletown Football Club on 20th June. And it’s thanks to the Isle of Man’s flourishing community support project, LinC, that the event will be taking place.
The LinC scheme (which stands for Leadership in the Community) is a programme created by the Isle of Man Children’s Centre in conjunction with one of the Island’s foremost employers, Castletown-based Friends Provident International, the aim of which is to coach and develop leadership skills and, where required, provide funding for anyone aged over 16 wishing to make a positive, voluntary contribution to their community.
Originally, the ten delegates who enrolled on the Southern LinC course in Castletown, had each come with their own ideas for starting a community project. But having met up, they decided the best use of resources would be to club together and organise a Fun Day for everyone.
The Southern Fun Day will feature a wide-range of activities to appeal to all age groups, including a five-a-side football tournament, bingo, arts and crafts displays and a quiz night. There’ll also be a number of rock and blues bands appearing during the afternoon as well as plenty of food and light refreshment.
The delegates’ vision and team spirit has now received the full backing of the Southern LinC organising team, who nurtured the group through the leadership training programme and who have agreed to cover the costs of putting the event on.
'We are all really excited about staging the Southern Fun Day,' said delegate Susan Woolard, who enrolled on the course with her daughter, Henny. 'We didn’t start out with this idea in mind, but once the group all got together, we decided collectively we would be up for the challenge of organising a Fun Day for Castletown and the surrounding area.
'We are very grateful to the LinC organisers who have not only given us a great deal of help with how we need to go about organising the event, but also have given us the funding necessary to put it on. We hope the day will raise enough money to give back to the Children’s Centre and other local charities that we would like to support,' added Susan.
In recognition of their efforts, each of the delegates received a special certificate countersigned by the Island’s Chief Minister Tony Brown MHK, presented at the Southern Communities LinC programme celebration night held recently at Victoria Road School, Castletown.
Also in attendance was Friends Provident International General Manager Jonathan Hall who said he had been hugely impressed with the scope of the project.
'It is wonderful to see a group of people who have met through the LinC programme, working together as a team to put together an event with such a wide community appeal. They are to be commended for their efforts and we are delighted to give them the funding they require,' said Mr Hall.
Fittingly, FPI aren’t only involved in covering the cost of the event. Staff member Natasha Keggin is also one of the Southern LinC delegates who has played a significant role setting up the Fun Day. 'I helped organise the venue by liaising with the football club,” said Natasha, a customer consultant.
The LinC programme, meanwhile, goes from strength to strength. The latest LinC course, for the west of the Island, is now well underway with around ten delegates learning leadership skills at the Philip Christian Centre in Peel.
Pictured: Jonathan Hall, General Manager of Friends Provident, Chief Minister Tony Brown and John Knight, Chief Executive of the Isle of Man Children's centre.
