Easter Fun Day 2025
The Easter Fund Day for 2025 has come to a close. Our posters advertised the event for Monday, April 21st, 2025, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, inviting everyone to join us for a free Easter Fund Day. The event included an egg hunt, Dr. Bike, fun activities and games for all ages, arts and crafts, and much more. Food and drinks were available, making it an inclusive gathering for all. However, the poster from FEL missed a few details, as there was much more to enjoy.
We moved our social cinema to a new, smaller, and more homely room, which was a big success for us as a trial location. Unfortunately, there were only two attendees watching the film "The Flying Scotsman," a cycling film about one of Scotland's greatest cyclists. We also opened up the games room for pool, table football, And board games
Due to rain in the forecast, Braes Friendly Growers Group held their plant sale indoors. The setup was impressive, featuring an excellent choice of plants for sale. There was also a large table of home baking, offering a wonderful selection of cakes, bakes, and sweet treats. The home baking group provided free tea, coffee, and juice for the youngsters.
In the main hall, there was free face painting and a section with stickers and bling where kids could decorate their bikes for free. Of course, FEL’s legendary smoothie bike was there, allowing attendees to earn their smoothies by doing a bit of cycling rather than just a monetary transaction. ( the revolution will not be motorised LOL)Dr. Bike was also present, offering a selection of bikes to try out and free bike maintenance. Additionally, FEL provided a selection of skateboards, and the Hub offered free lessons and the use of hoverboards. At the last minute, a toddler requested some wheels! PCHub sourced some wheelie cool trikes and a cosy coupe for the little un to join in the fun activities
A pizza oven was set up, where the fantastic staff from FEL served free pizzas throughout the afternoon. We organized a free egg hunt within the grounds, although our original plan to venture into the local woods, along with a cycling treasure hunt, proved too complex to arrange this year. PCHub got boiled eggs to paint a poor substitute for the woodland hunt but fun nonetheless,
Overall, there was plenty to do for every age group, all for free and fully inclusive. All we needed was for the community to show up. Attendance was lower than expected—perhaps many people were away for the Easter weekend, or they may have been confused by the other local group, which is unconnected and unsupportive of our hub, that held an Easter event just two days earlier. Some may have mistakenly thought the two events were the same.
We doubt there are many small towns that can boast two Easter events at separate venues within three days. The other Polmont group held their event outside the local supermarket and pub on Saturday. It seemed they were more popular than us, or perhaps they simply marketed their event more effectively. Congratulations to them for what appears to be a successful event and a good earner for businesses.
We have learned our lesson for next year: we will not schedule an Easter event, as we believe Polmont is not large enough for two Easter events on the same weekend. The other group has repeatedly expressed their desire to remain separate from the hub's community. Instead, we will organize a spring event sooner, aligning with a seed swap and the beginning of the growing season for adults, as this better reflects our values. Our aim is to foster a community of citizens rather than consumers, ensuring inclusivity rather than exclusivity based on financial means. We were successful in this at FEL`s easter event we made new friends and our community grew,
Zero Waste and Leave No Trace!
When the Easter event ended, we at PCHub had a quick turnaround of hall hires. We needed to tidy up and clean everything away because the Scottish Women's Institute was holding a big quiz night in the main hall that evening. Normally, we have a little bit of respite between hall hires, but not that day. Our unpaid volunteers are not complaining about the quick turnaround, as both groups— Forth Environmental Link (FEL) and the Women's Institute—are strong supporters of what we are trying to achieve in our community. We genuinely consider them to be part of our team now
We went the extra mile to ensure both groups were happy with our venue. FEL helped us tidy up, but our zero waste champion took on the task of sorting out the rubbish. The days of throwing everything into black bags are over at the hub. Kenny informed FEL that he would handle the waste himself; he is so committed to reducing waste that he makes it a point to monitor everything that goes in the bin and the compost. He is very strict about the recycling bins, which is essential now that we are no longer classified as business waste—our small bins are only emptied once a month.
Braes Friendly Growers asked if they could leave their plant sales stall up with an honesty box for the unsold plants. The growing group is an essential part of our team, so we happily agreed.( Kenny of PCH &Nige of BFG`s literally had their group logos painted on them by FEL!) Not only did some of the Women's Institute ladies buy plants, but the following day, the Tai Chi and tea dance groups also purchased more, making the plant sale a great success.
We hope to tie this in with a Braes area sunflower growing competition (though this is not yet confirmed). We had hoped our largest turnip competition would be ready, but the seedlings haven't sprouted yet, so we had none to sell. That competition will still go ahead, aligned with our Halloween event featuring a turnip carving competition. We are optimistic that FEL will join us for that, allowing us to collaborate on bringing communities together through growing food, being creative, cooking, and eating together later this year.
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