Highly successful summer events to be repeated in Brampton Bierlow

The council started weekly Teddy Bears Picnic events to help parents keep children entertained during the school holidays.

The event went from attracting just a handful of people to more than 50 by the time it ended, with parish councillors hopeful of building on that success this year.

They will take place each Monday in the park alongside the village hall - which could be used as an alternative to being staged outdoors if the weather is poor.

Council chairperson Helen Armitage said: “It was done as something nice for parents, to come and see and get involved in.

“We want to try to get younger parents involved as parish councillors if possible, because most of us have retired.

“It was done on a Thursday last year, but because the parish hall is used on Thursdays, we thought as there is no-one in the hall on Monday mornings, if the weather is not too good we can go into the hall.

“We had a gazebo up in the park, it was absolutely amazing. Officially, the parish council is in recess in August, but we have the time to be able to do out. We had a rota last year, so there was always a couple of us there.

“To start with we only had five or six parents, but by the end the park was full.

“People walking past stopped to ask if it was a private party, so we had a lot of passers-by but also word of mouth.

“We try to get out to as many people as we can, they were coming from all over, not just the village,” she said.

For the picnic sessions, parents will be invited to take along their own picnics and drinks.

The council has a giant teddy bear, donated last year by Rotherham Hospice, as a focal point and Cllr Armitage has a Teddy Bears’ Picnic book to read to youngsters.

The council’s gazebo is put up for the sessions, with music, games and more.