Glorious evening at the Southend Street Feast
THE COMMUNITY of Maudlintown and The Faythe came together to celebrate their fourth annual Street Feast in glorious evening sunshine.
The event, which was organised by the Southend Family Resource Centre, drew a large crowd from the local area who brought food for the event and enjoyed socialising with their neighbours and friends. Kids had the chance to get their face painted by Tina O’Dwyer from Odd Socks and played hopscotch and other games together.
Southend Development Worker Siobhan Hayden said the event had been a brilliant success that was enjoyed by the large crowd who attended. She expressed particular thanks to Danone and Londis The Faythe for sponsoring various food stuffs for the event. She also thanked the local community for embracing the idea so readily.
‘I got the idea a few years ago, I had seen something online about Street Feast parties and decided that we would try it at the centre. My hope is that the community will take ownership of it and continue to run it in the years ahead and I know they will because it’s an amazing community in the south end.’
The event, she said, attracted people of all ages, from four months up to the higher vintages!
The Southend Centre also unveiled their new defibrillator on the night. Ms Hayden explained that the defibrillator had been donated to the centre by Brian Hogan of The Faythe Pharmacy. The funds required for the protective box were raised through the centre’s Operation Transformation initiative and the Waterford Wexford Education and Training Board provided funding for the training of 20 local people.
Ms Hayden pointed out that, to her knowledge, they were the first community group in the area to have a defibrillator and said a lot of people had expressed an interest in being trained to use it.