Bristol Playday 2012

Summer is here and its time for everyone to Get out and play on Wednesday 1st August between 12-4pm! Once again College Green will be turned into a giant playground for the day with a range of exciting, sporting and stimulating activities for children of all ages and abilities.

Opened by the Lord Mayor and inspired by London 2012, children can win medals in playful games including egg and spoon, water balloon shot-put and space hopper relay. There will also be opportunities to canoe on the moat, build a green den with friends or ride a wacky bike!

Playday, the national celebration of children's right to play is celebrating 25 years and this year the campaign is highlighting that outdoor play is crucial for children's health, well-being and happiness. This year’s theme Get out and play, is calling on everyone to help make sure that children and young people across the UK have the time, space and opportunity to play outdoors.

Bristol Playday has been on College Green for 9 years and is a key feature of the council’s Bristol Youth Links Strategy.

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Clare Campion-Smith said: “Playday is a much-loved annual event for the city when families can enjoy a range of fun activities on College Green. It acts as a reminder to us of the importance of play for our children and young people, and why as a council we are keen to invest in our play areas and support community play initiatives.”

Earlier this month the city council's cabinet agreed a £4.6 million investment for Bristol’s parks and play areas.  The council’s aim is to ensure that over the next two years even more of Bristol’s parks and play will be improved and further developed in line with the city’s Parks and Green Spaces Strategy and brought up to the high standard already enjoyed by many of Bristol’s best-loved parks. 

Thanks to grassroots initiatives like Playing Out, Bristol is building a reputation nationally as a playful city. Since the launch of the ‘Temporary Play Street Order’ at Playday last year,16 Bristol streets have successfully applied to ‘open for play’ after school either weekly or monthly, enabling hundreds of children to play out and feel part of their community.

Alice Ferguson, co-founder of the Playing Out project said: “Bristol is leading the way nationally with the Temporary Play Street Order. There is now a huge amount of interest across Bristol and the UK in this very simple way to encourage informal neighbourhood play. We hope that it will now become permanent policy in Bristol and that other cities will soon follow suit."

Residents wanting to organise ‘playing out’ sessions should contact aliceandamy@playingout.net or visit www.playingout.net. For press enquiries about the Playing Out project please contact Naomi Fuller on 07985 776132

For more information on play activities through the summer across the city please see:
www.bristol.gov.uk/youthandplay
www.goplacestoplay.org.uk is aimed at children aged 8-12 looking for great places to play
www.goplacesdothings.org.uk is aimed at young people in Bristol aged 13 - 19 to find out what to do and where do go.

Playday is the national celebration of children's right to play. Each year thousands of children take part in play activities across the country. These are organised by local people with the support of Play England. Playday is organised to give children and families a great day out, and to get across some important messages about play and children. For more information visit the Playday website www.playday.org.uk

Bristol Youth Links (BYL) is the umbrella brand that identifies the range of joined up youth and play services for children and young people aged 8-19 (and for those up to 24 with learning difficulties). Bristol Youth Links will see over £22 million invested in youth and play services over the next five years as part of a major project to ensure activities are more joined up and effective.  It will bring together a wide range of services, such as youth groups, play services, advice and guidance, and support to help young people volunteer and get involved in the community.