How to throw your own STREET PARTY
Street parties aren’t just for royal celebrations – you can hold them any time of year. Here’s how to start a trend…
‘The whole street came out to play… and began a national movement’
When Alice Ferguson’s young son asked her to drive him over the road so he could call on his friend, she recognised a problem. Her son saw the road as a barrier to play. It reaffirmed her growing concern that children playing outside was becoming unheard of. ‘The main thing that was stopping me let my children play out was my fears about traffic. Also, there were no other children out playing.’ Like many of us, Alice had grown up with the freedom to play out and socialise with other kids naturally. She very much wanted the same for her children.
With her friend and neighbour Amy Rose, Alice used a street-party licence to close their road in Bristol for a few hours. ‘It wasn’t about bunting and food, but about using it to create a safe space.’
Emphasising that playing out should be part of a child’s everyday life, they closed their street for a few hours after school one June afternoon in 2009. Residents of all ages came out that afternoon, seizing the opportunity to meet their neighbours.
‘It sparked older residents’ memories of playing out as children,’ says Alice.
‘It was amazing to discover how many children actually lived on our street!’ Despite not having all met before, the children played together in a totally natural way. ‘Children haven’t changed – it’s the world around them that has.’
People walking past Alice’s closed road took an interest and wanted to know how to do it themselves. Having seen the positive impact the road closure had on their community, Amy and Alice met their local council to explain they had found a simple way to enable children to play out safely. The council recognised the value of playing out in aiding children’s health and agreed to put a process in place to facilitate it.
The meeting was to be the beginning of an incredible movement for change. The following year, Alice and Amy received funding from their council to support six more play streets. With the model refined, they set up a community interest company, Playing Out, working with councils nationwide to expand opportunities for safe play outside. Thirteen years on, there are around 1,400 street-play communities, benefitting an estimated 40,000 children in the UK.
‘Using the street as a blank canvas for play helps children to develop social skills, independence and a sense of belonging in the community,’ says Ingrid Skeels, co-director at Playing Out.
With The Queen’s Jubilee seeing more communities coming together to celebrate, regular street closures could be a wonderful legacy. As Ingrid says, ‘There doesn’t always need to be a special occasion to do it.’
‘Playing out should be a part of a child’s life’