WERRINGTON FESTIVAL

Is was a little bit windy this year at the Werrington Festival, but that didn’t stop the fun. The families who attended got to chat with local RFS firefighters, were entertained with stage performances full of talented Werrington locals, and had a visit from Rooby Roo the REaDING Kangaroo. They also browsed around the 40 plus small business and local community information stalls. 

Families and young people were also able to enjoy the regular FREE festival activities like rock climbing, petting zoo with pony rides, face painting, spray tattoos, motorised go carts and jumping castles. This year, a popular new addition to the festival activities was the mechanical bull, with a few parents and RFS firefighters were spied enjoying the fun. Our youth team kept hunger at bay supplying the residents with a delicious BBQ while raising funds for their annual youth camp. It was an amazing day with plenty of positive feedback from members of the community.

HAMPER DAYS

We held our first FREE Hamper Day at Autumnleaf Neighbourhood Centre during August. We had a great response from both residents and service providers. It was a pleasure to see many new faces access our centre and assist our local residents. Be on the lookout for future Hamper Days in Term 4.

Colyton Neighbourhood Centre held their Hamper Day in partnership with Uniting during September to celebrate the start of Spring.  With the skies blue and sunny local residents came along and enjoyed a free healthy lunch, took the opportunity to meet other residents and to have a chat.  Services from the Penrith Local Area provide information stalls and people were able to take home a free food

hamper. Community Junction Inc. and Uniting would like to thank Second Bite for donating the food that went into the hampers, and to all the services that were able to attend the day.

SENIORS FESTIVAL EVENTS

Seniors FESTIVAL events  

Community Junction Inc hosted and participated in a number of Seniors Festival events across Penrith.  Penrith City Council launched the event on the 1st April  at the Pop-Up Park  in Penrith. The Deputy Mayor, Clr Ross Fowler OAM along with the Member for Penrith, The Honourable Stuart Ayres MP, Fiona Scott MP –Member for Lindsay and Clr Jackie Greenow OAM officially welcomed the Re-Imagine Ageing Seniors Festival to our City.

 

Over at St Clair members from our St Clair Men’s Shed and members from St Marys Vietnam Veterans Affairs came along with their partner’s, to enjoy a very special morning tea and to show our appreciation for the contribution this group shows to others in the community.  They enjoyed an fun and interactive exercise demonstration by Donna our regular Gentle Exercise facilitator.

 

 

Erskine Park Neighbourhood Centre was a buzz with activity on Wednesday 6th April as it  celebrated its Annual Seniors Week event. This  year the emphasis was on  Re-Imaging  Ageing and we at Community Junction were  joined by residents, schools and 10 organisations/services that were able to provide  seniors with useful information. Living Beautifully got everyone off to a great start with  their laughing Yoga demonstration, which was contagious and put everyone in a good  mood. SydWest Multicultural Services gave a strength balance demonstration. There was also a special presentation made to the seniors of  homemade cookies by Erskine Park Children’s Centre to mark the event. The food on the day was catered by Erskine Park High School students and the entertainment was a mixture of James Erskine  Public, Erskine Park High School and the Nuba Mountains Association of NSW who together added colour and sparkle to the day. 

 

Over at Colyton the Seniors Living Well group hopped on the bus and headed to the Joan Sutherland Centre on Thursday 7^th April to attend Penrith City Council’s annual Seniors Week concert. The concert was filled with breathtaking performances by Nepean Creative Performing Arts High School, The Diamond Divas and some local talent sourced from  Penrith itself.  After the show the Living Well group hopped back on the bus to grab some lunch at the St Marys RSL before heading home to end what had been nothing short of a great day!

 

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

St Marys Memorial Hall was packed with local residents celebrating International Women's Day on Wednesday 8th March. Guests enjoyed listening to this year's theme 'Pledge for Parity' by guests speakers from various organisations.

 

Dance groups, singers, motivational speakers and great food were what this year's international Women's Day was all about.  Community Junction Inc look forwarding to being a part of this great event next year.

Christmas Celebrations

Community Junction  are gearing up for Christmas with 2 planned community Christmas Events.
On Saturday 5th December join us at Autumnleaf Neighbourhood Centre St Clair, for Movie Under the Stars, gates open at 6.00pm.  There will be a visit from Santa, sausage sizzle, popcorn and fairy floss will be on sale, a face painter to keep the kids happy.

Arthur Christmas, the movie will be showing at 8.15pm.  On Thursday 10th December bring the family over to North St Marys Neighbourhood Centre for our Community Christmas party, starting at 3.00pm.  There will be face painting, kids craft, jumping castle and a sausage sizzle. We hope to see you all there.

CHILDREN'S WEEK CELEBRATION

Colyton Neighbourhood Centre joined in the National Children’s Week celebrations with their REaD with Rooby Day event. Originally planned as an outdoor event we moved inside due to the morning rain but we have just as much fun. Kids got their faces painted by Maria, a balloon artist made them their favourite characters and James the farmer brought along his baby farm animals for them to feed and pat. Rooby hopped in too and read a book and enjoyed playing with her furry friends. Healthy snack were there and to top off a fabulous event everyone got to take a showbag home. The hall was filled with delight and laughter and parents, grandparents and friends enjoyed a morning of fun.

 If you missed out on the Colyton event we will be having another fun day at Nth St Marys Neighbourhood Centre on Thursday 29^th October 2015 from 9:30am.

A big thank you goes out to Penrith City Council Children’s Services for donating the baby animal farm, United Way Australia for donating children’s books and a balloon twister and to Penrith City Council’s Community Assistance Program (CAP) funding which enables Community Junction to put the event on.