News
Roma Social Events
Two events were organised in the summer for all Eastern European Roma families. The first was a social gathering at St. Catharine's church hall in June. This was attended by many pupils and their families from a wide range of Gloucester schools, both primary and secondary. Children enjoyed a variety of activities such as face painting, badge and hat making, circus skills, competitions, as well as playing traditional games such as Pass the Parcel. Many family groups had their photos taken and these were given to them. Eastern European food prepared by parent Lenka Horvathova, and pupils of Bishops College, was enjoyed by all.
Many of the READS team contributed to the event by bringing families and supervising the activities as well as other staff from organisations such as Otto and Graham from Best Futures. Thank you to all who made the event a success and also the financial donation from Bishops College which was much appreciated.
On a Saturday in July, a coach load of mostly Roma families accompanied by Sharon and myself went to Weston-Super-Mare. It was a fine day but extremely windy so our picnic on the beach meant we had very sandy sandwiches! However, this didn't stop us from having fun playing football and cricket and building sandcastles. Several children and some adults braved the sea, whilst others walked along the beach, went into town and into the amusements on the pier. We had donkey rides and ice creams!
After a long but happy day, we took the coach home and what a contrast! The journey down was noisy with singing and chatter whereas our return was very quiet as nearly everyone fell asleep!
It was a great day and one that we'd like to repeat again as we all got to know each other better and made new friends.
Amanda Barns
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