Hamlet Court Road in Harmony
The 'Hamlet Court Road in Harmony' Festival took place on Sunday 19th September and South Essex Homes were invited to have a stall on the day.
The festival welcomed many organisations from across Southend to take part in this multi-cultural family day with lots of music and activities. For SEH it was an excellent way to meet face to face with our residents and engage with the local community.
From early on I was chatting with people who were pleased to see the street full of red and white stalls filled with soft toys, children’s clothes and lots of freebies! Many of the eateries were open providing delicious food and drinks and there was music and entertainment throughout the event.
The SEH stall offered lots of information and advice on many of our services and the support available to our tenants. We also handed out our famous blue hessian shopping bags, they proved to be very popular! Four of our residents – Jean, Chris, Jan and Brenda from one of our sheltered housing schemes - visited the stall and we chatted about the festival and how good it was to see so many people out and about. They were very happy to pose for a photograph!
Some of the conversations were about how difficult these past 18 months had been but there were so many positive stories about getting back to a normal way of living but also being aware of keeping safe and looking after one another. One local resident spoke of how kind people had been, keeping in contact with her and helping her with shopping.
It was important to be part of this event not only to reconnect with our residents but to help in bringing communities back together again after such a challenging time with lockdowns and tier restrictions. People were really pleased to mix with others and revive the community spirit that has been so missed.
The festival attracted so many people throughout the day which was filled with lots of energy and laughter. One resident summed up the day by simply saying it was so good to see so many happy smiling faces. I look forward to being part of next year’s celebration.