Success at Polmontfest

Polmontfest, oor sustainable, affordable, and enjoyable wee event, was a great success!

Polmontfest was a day the Community came together to share the joy of nature and music; we made sure the event was free and fun for all to attend. The event organisers have proven that wee festival`s can be made affordable and sustainable to take place at oor hub; they now wish to tell all our supporters that this year 2026, was the first of what will now be an annual event.

The amazing Claire set up a free General entry ticket for each person to help us manage numbers. She made festival wristbands and set up a table and laptop to register people in with their ordered tickets (and those without were still welcomed and given wristbands). The wristbands were a fun souvenir, and helped us keep track of numbers as we knew how many we had given out. We can now tell everyone in these times of misinformation that it is a matter of true fact, that there were way more than 150 people at Polmontfest! We gave out 140 wristbands and some people slipped in another door while Monty was looking the other way! this is just people visiting over the day it doesnt count the workers and vollunteers!!!!

Everyone got Free food and refreshments; there was plenty of food available for all dietary requirements. Special thanks to Royal China, our amazing local Chinese takeaway, who gave us free munch boxes suitable for 100 people. This went down well with the Salad and baked potatoes the hub provided, and a donation of vegetable Pakora from Asma.

PCH volunteers arrived early to set things up, this event was made possible by hub volunteers only, not in collaboration with any other local group or national event like last year's great get-together. Here is a reminder of what was on, with special thanks to every stall holder and band for making the event possible.

Recci-Mac (reclaim and make) were the first to arrive and set up. This is a new, not-for-profit venture to spring out of Polmont Community Hubs' resident sewing group. They showcased their amazing coat made from ties that were saved from being thrown away and clothing made from discarded material that you would never imagine could look so good! The coat was unbelievably well received; Stella and Sheila were delighted with the way people reacted to it. Stella is not sure how she can beat it but will have a good try and is already started on the next pieces of wearable art! All proceeds will be used to subsidise art projects at the Hub that will be available for a low or no fee.

F.E.L got people being creative. Stefi did an amazing job helping children to get creative, pebble painting, printing and sign painting for the Hub. The children made some beautiful prints we can now put on display, in either the art room or the gallery felscotland.org/ We absolutely adore our new garden signage

Keep Scotland Beautiful - had two academics showing a short film and telling us things we didn't know about water! The interactive display is going to be turned into a knowledge-sharing display on our web page soon find out more about their organasition: keepscotlandbeautiful.org/

TCV (The Conservation Volunteers) set up a gazebo among our meadow, where children and adults were invited to get involved in a bioblitz and explore the grounds. TCV also did a brief display and were talking about the ancient techniques of scything: (Scything is the art and technique of using a scythe, a long, curved hand tool, to mow grass, clear weeds or harvest grain. It is experiencing a major revival in modern meadow management and conservation because it is quiet, good for wildlife, and offers low-impact physical exercise). TCV gathered a good number of sign-ups for our future Scything event (adults only). The children enjoyed the bioblitz too! tcv.org.uk/

Burnt Island Hedgehog Haven was very popular; Our community learned a lot about all things hedgehog! They sold some merchandise to help support their vital work. (The bairns loved the fluffy mini hogs) Moira also got a lot of our community signing her petition for more protection for our prickly friends.

Falkirk District Council had stalls from their Resilience team and Waste team; they had some surprisingly fun stuff to do while explaining how our community can help! Thank you to Falkirk District Council for allowing Miranda, Martin and Brian the time to attend, as they were all amazing and especially to Miranda for your encouragement, support and energy and having so much fun with your memory game. We are all about cutting waste and building resilience at the hub. There's been a lot of confusion locally about the differences between district council, community council and councillors, especially around the subjects of Waste and community resilience; our friends at the district council work tirelessly tackling waste. It costs tax payers a fortune. If you agree, ask our elected councillors to tell the government that their constituents are sick of companies making a huge profit from encouraging people to be wasteful. It should not be our district council picking up the cost of this litter and waste. They are doing an amazing job under extremely difficult circumstances.

'Focus Duo' , a local band, kicked off around 14.45 to 16.15 and played a broad range of rock and pop. We loved what we heard. The roaming guitar solos were particularly fun and everyone enjoyed the hits they played. They were the first band to play at the first ever Polmontfest and they did it in style!.

Music Broth brought along a huge variety of instruments that everyone could have a go at (including big kids!) Everyone through the door could pick up an instrument and make some noise. This was a big hit with children especially as they were encouraged to 'make some noise!' Lots of Help was on hand to guide and inspire.We will be further collaborating with them again soon. Read more about this amazing organisation: musicbroth.org/

The finale was - 'Polar Opposites' who are a young, local band. They played their first gig at Polmont Community Hub's Soup Night and are currently featured on the front page of Falkirk Districts 'Tenant Talk' magazine. They played a variety of rock classics and had a huge amount of fun. There were more supporters than last time too, they seem to be growing their groupies!. See them here in: falkirk.gov.uk/council-housing/tenant-magazine The first Polmontfest came to a close ... .With lots of fun had and new connections made. Whole families came through the door and left with big smiles. This was the most successful event so far for PCH. Next year will be bigger and better!. None of this would be possible without the will of a few and the help of many. With special thanks to. All our amazing volunteers and the RISE FV volunteers who supported us too. Every single person who came through the door, without you, there would be no event.