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Why no daytime event in 2023?

The first Creech Party in the Park happened 10 years ago in 2013 to celebrate the opening of the new play park. It ran every year until 2019 and for 7 years it was both a daytime and evening event.

The event grew bigger and better every single year and we even won a national award from Fields in Trust in 2015.

Obviously, the pandemic put a stop to the event in 2020/2021 and in 2022 we did not feel comfortable or ready to organise the event with covid still hanging over us.

Our Events

However, this year, the team really wanted to get back to organising events – and in addition to Party in the Park we also organise:

This year we will also be introducing new events too (more on that in upcoming posts!).

Simplifying the event

The team is a small group and is therefore really busy.  The team members are all volunteers with jobs and families to take into account when committing to organise such a large event.

The logistics of organising both a daytime event and an evening event on the same day are extremely taxing – so we decided to make it easier on ourselves this year.

So with all this in mind, we made the decision to make the Creech Party in the Park an evening-only event in 2023. It is still most definitely a family-friendly event and always will be.  The whole idea for the event is that families can socialise together close to home.

We are also supporting the Coronation Picnic in the Park on 6th May – and this will include some of the best things that we all enjoyed during the daytime of PIP – such as The Bake-Off and Family Games (egg toss anyone?!).

Nothing is set in stone, and we will consider all options again next year.

We Need You!

One more thing – we ALWAYS need more volunteers! So please drop us a message via email or Facebook if you would like to get involved.

 

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Coronation Picnic in the Park – 6th May 2023

We are delighted to be involved in this very special Coronation Event happening in the village in May. The day will be a family event to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.

Join your fellow parishioners in Creech St Michael Recreation Park where you can enjoy:

  • The coronation screened live on a big screen
  • Free cream tea/cakes and hot drinks*
  • Family-friendly activities
  • Competitions

Please bring along your own picnic lunches and we will provide the cake and cream teas later in the afternoon. If you don’t fancy bringing your own picnic, there will be a burger van and hot drinks van on site too.

Bring your own picnic blankets, chairs etc and don’t forget your travel mugs for your tea so we can be kind to the environment.

Please make sure you mark yourself as attending on The Coronation Facebook Event page so you don’t miss any important messages about the event.

Timings

The park will be open as usual around these times, but organisers will be setting up/down.

 CORONATION TV COVERAGE LIVE ON BIG SCREEN

  • 1020 – The King’s Procession
  • 1100 – Coronation Service at Westminster Abbey
  • 1300 (approx.) National Anthem
  • 1300 – The Coronation Procession
  • 1330 – Ceremonial Flypast/Royals on Balcony

ACTIVITY/COMPETITION TIMETABLE

  • 1000:  Event officially starts
  • 1000-1200:  Archery
  • 1030:  Children’s Crown Parade
  • 1200:  Last chance to enter your cake into the Bake-Off
  • 1230: Magic Show
  • 1300: Circus Skills
  • 1300-1500:  Cream teas served (to ticket holders only)
  • 1300-1400: Archery
  • 1400: Bake-Off winners announced/prizes given
  • 1400: Magic Show
  • 1430: Tug of War
  • 1500: Circus Skills
  • 1530: Egg Toss
  • 1600: Event finishes

AVAILABLE ALL DAY

  • Throw the Welly
  • Coconut Shy
  • Inflatables (weather permitting)
  • Face Painting

Food & Drink

* Although the cream tea is free, tickets must have been reserved before the event and we are now at full capacity

Activities

  • Face Painting
  • Inflatables (subject to weather)*
  • Family Games – eg Egg Toss, Tug of War
  • Magic Shows
  • Circus Skills
  • Coconut Shy
  • Welly Toss

* Fee applicable

Competitions

We are pleased that both Ruishton and Creech schools are getting involved by making bunting and crowns.  We are also very excited that the Creech Bake-Off is making a comeback!  Having been a huge success at previous Party in the Park events we are holding a bake-off with a Coronation/Royal theme.  The bake-off will be for everyone of any age.

Kid’s ‘Make a Crown’ Competition

We invite all children to get crafty and make a crown to wear on the day.  Please wear your crowns on the day to receive a small prize and come to the main arena at 10.30 to take part in a parade.

coronation crown comp

‘Creech Bake-Off’ Coronation Cake Competition

Open to everyone.  We want to be wowed by your creations with a Coronation theme. Deliver your cakes to the Bake-Off tent and fill in an entry slip before the midday cut-off time. There will be a winner and two runner-ups for each of the three categories (Adults/Teens/Children). Winners announced and prize giving will happen in the Bake-Off tent at 1330.

bakeoff23

Tug of war

Get your teams together for a fun Tug of War championship!  We need eight teams of eight to take part.  Sign up on the sheet in the Bake-Off tent. 2.30pm in the main arena.

tug of war

Tickets

The park, big screen, competitions and family games are all free for our parishioners to enjoy, however, you will need a ticket to redeem for your cream tea or cake. This is so we can cater accordingly and tickets will be limited.

All tickets for the free cream tea have now been allocated.

Parking

The only parking on-site will be for blue badge holders.  Please come to the event on foot if possible.

The Organisers

This event is a joint venture to bring the local community together for a memorable coronation and is organised and supported by:

Creech Community Clean-Up Day – Love Where You Live!

To celebrate Somerset Day on 11th May we are going to have another village clean up day followed by food and games at the park.

Last year a few volunteers (and their minions!) did a fab job of cleaning up the village prior to Creech Party in the Park.  This year we are holding our clean-up on Somerset Day to celebrate the beautiful area in which we live

What will we be doing?

We’ll be meeting at Creech Recreation Ground for a morning of litter-picking, weeding and general sprucing-up of the village, in readiness for the summer.  We will provide maps of the local area so you know exactly which areas to cover and avoid repetition.  We’ll try to cover as much of the village as possible and you can of course choose which jobs you’d like be get involved with.

Children are welcome – in fact positively encouraged! Please ensure they are supervised by a responsible adult throughout the event.

What do you need to bring?

We have a small supply of litter-pickers and plenty of black bags and disposable gloves. Please bring along your own litter pickers if you have them and gardening gloves if you want to get involved with weeding.

If you are walking to the park and would like to pick up litter on your way, let us know and we can drop off bags/gloves to you before the event so you are prepared.

BBQ and games

After all the hard work there will be a free BBQ and chips for all of our volunteers, followed by a few family games at the park and a general chilled get together with fellow villagers.

If you are planning to come along to our clean up day, can you please leave us a message on 01823 445057 with your name, how many people are coming, and if anyone is a vegetarian. This is so we can plan the BBQ and feed our hungry volunteers! Alternatively mark yourself as attending on our Facebook event page.

Timings

09:30-10:00 – Gather at park to be briefed on locations/jobs and given supplies

10:00 – Begin clean up

12:00-12:30 – Meet back at recreation park

12:30 – BBQ & Games

Free Fish & Chip Lunch

On Friday 18th January 2019 Creech Party in the Park (PIP) provided a free fish and chip lunch for a group of over 60s.

pip-lunch

Around 120 locals were treated to a lunch of fish, sausage or veggie burger courtesy of PIP.

The event was held in the village hall, and Layz Ricks provided the delicious main course. Pudding was a selection of shop bought delights in addition to a lovely home made gluten free cheesecake (thank you Tina!).

layz-ricks

Creech St Michael Primary School sent along six school ambassadors to help serve up the food, accompanied by Mrs Perham and the Headteacher Mrs McCarthy. The children did a fantastic job of shuttling the food between the mobile van and the hall and serving up mushy peas, but their favourite job was wheeling round the dessert trolly full of tasty treats! They were treated to lunch and cake afterwards for all their hard work.

Following lunch and pudding there was time for a quick cuppa and a biscuit before the bingo started. Several games were played, with boxes of chocolates given out as prizes. We were once again joined by Somerset County Council leader Cllr David Fothergill who performed outstandingly as the bingo caller, assisted by PIP organiser Clare.

A BBC film crew were also in attendance at the event, filming Cllr Fothergill for an upcoming episode of Panorama about Social Care. They interviewed some of the locals too so you may see some familiar faces on TV soon!

Although not quite up to the BBC standards, we also had our own roving reporters on hand in the form Andrew and Jo who did a fab job of capturing the day in pictures and video.

Behind the scenes Gill, Karen, Tina and Renee were hard at work in the kitchen washing up. Although we didn’t see them much – we very much appreciate them keeping the mountain of plates under control!

The whole event was funded by the proceeds of PIP. As a non-profit event we aim to support good causes in the local area every year. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for groups that could benefit from PIP funds.

This lunch, and indeed Creech Party in the Park would not be possible without the invaluable help of volunteers, who give up so much of their time. A huge thank you goes to: Adrian, Andrew, Charlie, Clare, Colin, Corinne, David Fothergill, Gemma, Gill, Jo, Karen, Mina, Nigel, Renee, schoolchildren, Simon, Steve and Tina.