Upcoming annual Christmas Carols in the Park event will take place on Sunday 10th of December.
Our aim was to involve the whole community including the children from the six Primary Schools in the parish and the Carndonagh Community School pupils. Our aim was also to include our new Ukrainian Community as well as the MICA families in our parish who had suffered so much trauma in the last few years.
We wanted to decorate the area around the community gardens with Christmas Bunting and wreaths and to have healthy seasonal snacks. We contacted the ETB community section and applied to run upcycling sewing classes in Spraoi as they had several sewing machines. We obtained funding for a tutor and rental for SPRAOI. We applied to IDP for funding for materials. We also applied to Slainte Care to buy healthy treats from a local baker which we also obtained. We bought tablecloths, curtains etc in the Good as New Shops to make the buntings as well as buying some fabric. We invited the Ukrainian community to the sewing classes along with our local community. The two communities collaborated and created the Christmas bunting.
We organised a wreath making workshop where we had a local and two Ukrainian florists demonstrating their skills. We collected most of the necessary materials in the park. The primary schools were invited to decorate small wooden decorations. The Carndonagh TY students made several decorated wooden Christmas stands and baked chocolate cookies. We invited the Brass Band to play at our event, the church choir to sing Christmas carols, the primary school children to sing two Christmas songs and the CCS played guitars and sang several songs for us. We also decorated a Christmas tree, made Christmas tree from pallets, and lit the whole park area up with fairy lights. We had a huge crowd at the event and there was a great community spirit in evidence. We had approximately 350 people in attendance.