Some of you will have received an e-mail about Lark in the Park from Sue Gower, and others may have heard about the event in the run up to the summer. I just thought I'd write and let you know a
few things about the event now that it is all packed down.

Lark in the Park is organised by New Generation Church with the valued help of other churches in Sidcup. It costs nearly £20,000 to facilitate the event due to the hire of the "Bandwagon" venue (a set of four lorries making up a stage and seating area for 300 people), the hire of Sidcup Place and purchasing equipment. The 100+ staff team is completely made up of volunteers. It ran from Saturday 26th July to Sunday 10th August

Every afternoon we ran HQ Kids Club, an action packed time for 4-11 year olds. 577 kids registered over the course of the two weeks with 1356 visits being made by children.

A carers and toddlers party was organised twice with 160 kids coming along.

A "Clean Up" team went to work every afternoon, often working with Bexley Rangers. 40 bags of rubbish was cleared from Footscray Meadows, where 20 metres of ditch was also cleared. 132 cars
were cleaned for free by the group of volunteers ranging in age from 14 - 65.

Every Sunday we organised a family "Funday" which was attended by 800 people from the loacl area. Bouncy Castles, craft workshops, donkey rides and much more were organised for the
people in amazing weather conditions.

We also had a Youth Bus on site donated to us from a church in Ramsgate who had recently bought it from KCC. Kitted out with playstations and allowing a safe venue for young people it regularly
had 50 - 60 visitors each evening, many of whom came from Footscray and Albany Park.

John Powell who came along covering the role of Borough Commander for the Police thought it was a fantastic provision for the local area and was shocked that the money had been raised purely through donations from people in local churches.

So that's what's been going on over the past couple of weeks in Sidcup. Now, when you hear of Lark in the Park you'll hopefully have an idea of what a successful event it is.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Bullen
New Generation Church
www.newgen.org.uk
020 8309 6056