By Dan Barron, Community Organiser
The Springwell TARA hosted a Christmas tabletop market after speaking to residents who said a coach trip to markets were too expensive. This prompted the group to host a Christmas market for the community. The TARA have managed to source donations such as food, teas, coffee and cakes from local supermarkets and organisations including Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Toby Carvery and Wilko which helped to fund the event.
The group has become more confident in using emails as a form of communication to contact organisations through the continued support of the Rotherham Federation community organisers. The group managed to source 15 local/independent vendors to attend and sell wares at the market. Some of the vendors were from the local estate and others were from the wider community of Rotherham. The original event plan was for the market to host 10 vendors however this was extended due to the demand for tables.
The group have become very proactive in marketing their events through not only leaflet dropping into every house on the local estate but by engaging with other stakeholders such as local radio station RotherFM, The Rotherham Advertiser and local Councillor Wendy Cooksey through emailing and through social media.
The group had thought the event through thoroughly and had also recognised directions would need to be advised with signs to direct vendors and customers to the event. The event also received marketing throughout the event with a live Facebook video showing the event as it was happening. The group received some positive feedback on Facebook with some ‘likes’ and ‘loves’. Photos of the vendors and their wares were advertised throughout the day to encourage users to come to the event. Some vendors did very well from the event such as the tombola, lucky dips, woodcraft and wax melts stalls.
The group managed to raise £250 over the event through the vendor stall payments, hot drinks and the tombola stand. Due to the event being primarily funded by donations and table hire the group were able to create an event that was beneficial for the community whilst raising funds to create more community events. The event brought in over 57 people. The community complemented the price of the drinks served by the group leading to nearly 100 drinks being served over the duration of the event. This was achieved by visiting local community cafes to see why they are successful.
The Springwell TARA are developing tremendously well and are now looking towards how to create a funding bid for their future projects.
