The Family Fundraising Festival hosted by Aico was a huge success, raising over £10,000 for two local charities, The Movement Centre and Little Stars. The event took place on Saturday 15th July at Brynkinalt Estate in Chirk.

Despite the changing weather, there was a great turnout from the local community, with over 600 visitors attending the festival. Event in a Tent made sure there were plenty of sheltered events and activities, including live music, circus performances and workshops. There were a variety of outdoor children’s activities and attractions for all ages, including local food and drink, Nerf Wars run by SYA, giant games and crazy golf.

Aico has a longstanding relationship with The Movement Centre and Little Stars, showing continued support through fundraising activities and donations, as part of their Aico in the Community initiative. Both charities provide valuable resources and support for the community and the Family Fundraising Festival was a brilliant opportunity to showcase the essential services they deliver.

The Movement Centre, is a specialist treatment centre, that helps children who have Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, or other diagnoses to achieve new skills through increased strength and control of their movement. While Little Stars, provides families who need support with essential items to help keep babies and children clean, clothed, and safe.

Curtis Langley, Fundraising and Marketing Officer at The Movement Centre commented “The Movement Centre are delighted to have been involved with Aico Family Festival, and can’t thank the team enough for including us. When we were asked to join a committee, and started talking about this 12 months ago, who would have thought we would end up with such an amazing event. The thought and effort put in by everyone from Aico was amazing from the very start. The event had something for everyone, with Circus acts entertaining the crowds, giant garden games including 9-hole crazy golf, lots of music, food and drink for everyone to enjoy.

 It means a lot to The Movement Centre to be involved in such an incredible event, not only raising awareness and vital funds but to help bring a community together. With over 600 people attending it was incredible to see everyone having such a good time. A big thank you must also go to all of the vendors and companies bringing activities to the festival and Brynkinalt for allowing us to hold the event on their beautiful grounds. One last thank you to all of the volunteers, the event wouldn’t have run as smoothly as it did without the volunteers on the day. The feedback I have received so far has been great, and we can’t thank everyone enough for the kind support shown.”   

7video were also in attendance on the day, capturing all the festival fun against the beautiful backdrop of the Brynkinalt Estate. They were interviewing visitors, Aico’s Managing Director Neal Hooper, the charities and the fantastic team behind the event about their experience and some behind-the-scenes details. The team from J&PR took over Aico’s social media for the day, covering all the action and keeping visitors updated.

Leanne Simcoe, Founder and Chief Executive of Little Stars added “I want to say thank you to Aico for hosting the Family Fundraiser and selecting Little Stars to be one of the charities for the event. It was great to see so many from the community come together and enjoy the day. We are incredibly grateful for the years of support from Aico and this event was really special to be a part of.”

Aico would like to extend a massive thank you to the vendors: Bonni’s Pizza, Urban Grillhouse, Knock & Snitch Oswestry, Super Whipped, Crunch to Crumb and the Oswestry Cambrian Rotary. All the vendors have been very generous in their support of the event, and have each pledged a donation towards the final total.

Aico would also like to thank all the volunteers who made the day possible. The Family Fundraising Festival was a great success with all the money raised on the day going directly to support The Movement Centre and Little Stars.