From local festivals and wellbeing events to carers’ conferences, we spent the summer meeting families, building connections, and celebrating the communities that support SEND families across Hammersmith & Fulham and beyond.
This summer, the Parentsactive team enjoyed attending a range of local community events, meeting families and the organisations working to support them.
It’s encouraging to see so many organisations supporting families across Hammersmith & Fulham, and these events have provided a valuable opportunity to connect with local organisations, catch up with some familiar faces, reconnect with families we have supported, while also reaching new parent carers to share information and more about our network of support.
There’s nothing quite like getting out into the community and getting the chance to meet families face-to-face, and the good food and positive vibes were an added bonus. The brilliant weather throughout this summer, which is now starting to fade into a distant memory, helped create a real festival atmosphere wherever we went.
Summer Community Events
It all kicked off with Reema (Parent Carer Forum Coordinator) at the One Heart Festival organised by Youth Action in Kensington on 20th June, a fantastic initiative that was started to help uplift and bring the community together, and held annually in memory of the victims of Grenfell. Although it wasn’t a SEND-specific event, all families were welcome, and Reema shared a stall with another parent carer forum, Full of Life, who support local families in Kensington and Chelsea.
If you spotted us at the Active Wellbeing Festival, organised by ASE and Hammermith & Fulham on the 11th July, we hope you had a chance to say hello. This was a fantastic event focused on promoting health and wellbeing, with plenty of activities for families to try, from massages and football to dance sessions.
We even had the chance to try some Tai Chi after it was recommended by one of our members as a helpful way to manage stress and improve wellbeing. I certainly came away feeling more relaxed and grounded afterwards! And, of course, we couldn’t resist enjoying some delicious homemade Caribbean food while we were there.
If you’d like to read more about the event,click here, or check out ASE’s video capturing the fun and community spirit of the day. Video credit to event organisers ASE.
We were also at the Provider Services Day, organised by H&F Adult Social Care at Ravenscourt Park on 14th July. The event was open to residents across adult services and aimed to promote inclusion, wellbeing, and positive community engagement through a range of accessible sports and activities. It was a welcoming community event and a great opportunity to meet the network supporting adults across the borough.
On the 20th July we were at CommUNITY Day, organised by Hammersmith & Fulham Council which brought together thousands of residents for a celebration of the borough’s diversity, with activities, performances, music, and community stalls of organisation contributing to making the borough a better place to live for everyone. The event began with a SEND-friendly session, offering a quieter and more relaxed atmosphere, with a space for SEND at the Ravenscourt Park Glasshouses throughout the event. We shared a stall in between Family Hubs service and the Stephen Wiltshire Centre, a dedicated Family Hub supporting families with SEND.
Another very worthy event was a Cultural Wellbeing Event held by Central London Community Healthcare at The Reed Centre in North Kensington on 20th July. For families of disabled children, the event gave children the chance to enjoy activities including face painting, music, play sessions and pet therapy, while parents were able to access a range of wellbeing therapies, information and advice from organisations supporting local families – it was certainly a lot of fun for all!
Over the summer break, while most of the team were away, Alice (Parentsactive Post-19 Coordinator) and Shaana (Parent Carer Advisor) represented Parentsactive and our network of parent carers at the West London NHS Trust Carers Conference, ‘Caring Together, Stronger Together’ on the 29th July at the Irish Cultural Centre. It was a valuable networking event focused on recognising carers, highlighting the support available to them and discussing how things can improve.
If you’d like to read the post-event full summary report, it is a useful resource that highlights the essential and often unseen work carried out by carers. The Carers Trust also presented on the day about the work they do to support carers, that can include parent carers as well (Presentation). The conference also provided an opportunity for carers to connect with professionals, share their experiences, be heard, and work together to build more carer-friendly communities.
Whether it was a quick chat at an information stall, helping families discover local resources, or simply catching up with those we’ve supported over the years or trusted partner organisations, every conversation reminded us of the importance of community connections. It was also refreshing to step away from our screens and spend time meeting families where they are, hearing directly about their experiences and what’s important to them.
Looking Ahead
We also have some exciting news for the months ahead. Thanks to funding from Hammersmith United Charities, we’ll be able to strengthen our community outreach and connect with more families across the borough, particularly in the north of the borough, including Shepherd’s Bush, White City and East Acton.
We’re looking forward to spending more time in engaging with schools and organisation in the area, listening to families and learning about their experiences, so that every parent carer’s voice can be heard and represented. This is more important now than ever, with the planned changes to the SEND system, outlined in the SEND reforms. We know that barriers to participation can take many forms, whether that’s distance, language, confidence, or just not knowing what’s available locally and hopefully we can change that through this funding. This work will help us reach families and ensure more parent carers have timely access to information, services and peer support. We look forward to meeting many more of you over the coming months.
Leave a Reply