Children, young people, families and carers have praised the work carried out by Midsomer Norton’s Wansdyke Play Association this year. The Association has made the most of the great outdoors by using dedicated funding to support children and their development through play.

Local mum, Diane, who brought her two children along to the sessions, said the activities are great for children, help build their social interaction skills and offer something for everyone.

She said: “We come because there are great activities for the kids, they can do what they want and it’s local. It also helps improve their social interaction, because there are many other children, and the sessions merge different school ages together.

“Not only that, but they’ve also learnt important life skills, how to eat healthily, and how to make healthy food. This has helped us at home, too,” Diane added.

Ten two-hour sessions full of ball sports, active play and craft activities to support school work were all put together following feedback from families and funding made available by Virgin Care’s Community Wellness Fund Grant Programme. The grant programme provides opportunities to local community groups and charities like WPA to help improve the health and wellbeing of local people though selected initiatives.

WPA, which has a strong reputation built over the last 25 years in B&NES for its work supporting children and the development of communities through play, secured almost £2,000 from the fund – which is part of Virgin Care’s contract with Bath Council and the local NHS to bring health and care services together and improve outcomes by allowing local people to stay well and proactively look after their health. Funds are managed by the Quartet Community Foundation, who run the application and grant award process, as well as track outcomes.

Since receiving support, families say the sessions have gone from strength to strength, with the grant being used to run the family fun play and eat sessions which brought dozens of young people along each week to the small playground at The Plantation in Writhlington, Radstock.

“I’d recommend anyone to come along; it’s good for children’s confidence, and they learn so much trying new things they might not get through school. Trying new things is good for them, something new gives them a new perspective,” said young dad, Andy, who attended with his children.

Stacey Pottinger, from WPA, said: “The funding for our play sessions helped to increase self-confidence for the young people coming along, as they learnt new skills and enjoyed new play opportunities.

“They learnt about healthy lifestyles and the families enjoyed the opportunity to play, cook and eat together and we couldn’t have offered this without the funding received from the grant programme.”

Sue Turner from Quartet Community Foundation said: “Everyone deserves a fair chance of a good life and we see every day the difference small, local good causes like Wansdyke Play Association make for local people.”