Foster families from our Worcester and Dudley offices joined FFC staff and Directors at Beech Bank for an afternoon of fun, food, friendship and a drop of magic thrown in at our lovely family Easter Party on 20th April.
The April showers kindly stayed away so we were able to throw open the doors at Beech Bank so everyone could enjoy milling in and out. Foster carers all brought a dish to contribute to the grand spread in our sharing buffet, which everyone enjoyed dipping into as the mood (and the munchies) struck them.
Upon arrival each child was given a chocolate Easter egg and could choose to enter the Easter egg decorating competition, using the icing pens, sweets and other yummy decorative treats laid on at the craft table. Granville stepped up to the very difficult task of judging the edible works of art with the winner receiving a bat and ball set and our two runners up each winning a giant bubble blowing machine. Of course every child also got to take their chocolate egg home with them (although only a very few lasted that long!)
Our Family Workers, Tracey and Rachel had of course called upon the services of our favourite face painter again, who never fails to amaze and delight us – but more importantly, the children – with her incredible skills, including this fabulous Easter bunny, complete with finger carrot!
Mingling amongst the guests and wowing us all with his close-up magic tricks was Juggling John on his stilts, who later in the day went on to give us an astounding (and sometimes terrifying!) display of fire juggling and fire breathing. He also put on a circus skills workshop and we all had a go – with varying degrees of success! Who knew that when Granville tells us he’s trying to “keep all the plates spinning” that he was actually speaking literally?!
The party was the perfect opportunity to get everyone together over Easter and have fun. There was a wonderfully warm and happy atmosphere with foster carers and children equally enjoying the opportunity to meet up and relax with other people who are walking a similar path to themselves. The children were happy, engaged and participated enthusiastically. We were delighted to see the older children, many of whom have formed a close friendship group through attending our Children’s Council meetings and other events, giving one of our new foster teens such a warm welcome to the group and making her feel comfortable. It was especially heart-warming to see two brothers who live in different foster families taking the opportunity to spend some quality time together – they made a bee-line for each other as soon as the party started and played happily together all afternoon. As Granville neatly summed it up during the after-party clear up, “friendships are being made, which is great.” Hear, hear!