Welcome Project celebrates International Children’s Day

With beautiful weather and a great atmosphere it brought together around 1,500 people from throughout the community to promote and enhance inclusion and integration within Lisburn City.

Among those attending were representatives from various agencies, voluntary and community organisations, such as SEELB, PSNI, NIFRS, Lisburn City Council, Lisburn City Centre Management, Lisburn Sure Start and local community groups. This was an exciting event which offered a variety of activities for all age groups.

The event commenced at 12 noon with a demonstration by NIFRS which involved removing a casualty that had been trapped in a vehicle, which had been donated by Cars4parts.

After the demonstration those attending were treated to a ‘Folk Dances from Around the World’ performance by children aged 4-11, a one year project supported by The National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Live music was provided by Musicland group, who also delivered music workshops.

Participants enjoyed a free barbecue, kindly donated by Polita and homemade European pastries prepared by a local volunteer.

Entertainment for children included bouncy castles, petting farm, face painting and balloon modelling. 120 children took part in sport challenges and a winner of each race was rewarded with a bag of treats sponsored by Cars4parts and Polita. The PSNI displayed a number of their vehicles and closed the event with their dog demonstration.

A spokesperson from the Welcome Project said: “Our aim as an organisation is to create a truly inclusive community which welcomes all regardless of differences and we believe this event was another step forward to achieving that aim.

“We honestly did not expect such a great number of people attending the event so we were delighted to see people from different communities and backgrounds living in Lisburn coming together and having a good time.

“It was indeed a very successful event; however we would not be able to organise it without support from other parties.

“Therefore we would like to take this opportunity to thank The Resurgam Trust, Lisburn City Council, Lisburn SAFE, Polita, Lisburn City Centre Management, NI Home Repairs, Car4parts, PSNI, NIFRS, SEELB and all the volunteers for their support and commitment.”