Community centre hosting spring fair to fundraise after pandemic strain
A community centre in Walsall is gearing up for its spring fair with the hope it will help it recover from the pandemic.
Pelsall Community Centre has wrestled with financial woes caused by lockdowns over the past two years, but hopes the Spring Craft Fair can help turn its fortunes around.
It takes place on Saturday from 10am to 3pm, with more than 40 craft stalls and activities for all the family.
There will be an Easter bonnet selfie competition, with prizes for the top three entries who submit their selfie to the Pelsall Community Centre Facebook page.
Children can also enter the Easter competition by collecting letters from around the community centre and making a phrase from their findings.
Entry to the challenge is £1 and all participants receive a Cadbury's creme egg.
Other activities include a tombola, a guess the teddybear name competition, and a how many sweets in the jar competition.
Committee member Margaret Roberts said: "It's going to be very family-based and we're encouraging the community to come along.
"Our Christmas fair was well-supported, but we need to raise the money we lost when we were closed during Covid."
The community centre could not host events during the pandemic, but instead became a hub to support the most vulnerable members of the community.
Margaret's husband, committee member and trustee Arthur Roberts, added: "We did lots of outreach work in the pandemic, we'd drive around and deliver 80 packages a month to our more vulnerable residents.
"We also gave packages to patients leaving the Manor Hospital who'd be going home on their own so they had some extra help.
"We couldn't be open as a centre so instead we used it as a base to keep in contact with people."
Now that restrictions have been removed, the community centre is once again host to local groups and activities, from baby sensory play to ballroom dancing to tribute acts.
Arthur added: "It's great to see people in the building again. We have a knit and natter group who do more nattering than knitting - they sound like kids at lunchtime. It's so nice to see."
