7 April 2014 | Volunteering | Back to Blog
Looking back at Chrisp-mas
By Guy Hanley
Something that really appealed to me from the outset of becoming a Dot Dot Dot guardian, was being able to use the volunteering opportunities to discover the local area and it’s community in a meaningful way. Whilst weekly litter picking has thrown up some interesting encounters with local residents on the estate (one lady, whilst grateful for what we were doing, asked if we could come back at 3am when the litter was particularly rife), a perfect chance presented itself in the form of the Chrisp Street Chrismas Market.
The Christmas Market was a great community celebration and included live music, a variety of children’s activities, free Christmas food with a local twist (Curried sprouts and Pease pudding, anyone?) as well as a free Santa’s Grotto. – “He’s better than the one at Harrods!”exclaimed one satisfied Mum.
They looking for a number of volunteers to help out on the day, mostly as stewards, but were also looking for someone to take photos and upload them to twitter and facebook throughout the day. My partner Anna-Liisa jumped at the chance, and I sent them an enquiring email to see if they might want a video shot on the Saturday – we soon got a very enthusiastic reply.
And so we went… bright and early, as was asked of us, and tried to capture the day: Snow, Gingerbread Men, Carols and one of the most consistently long queues to see Santa I’ve ever seen. The children loved it of course, and it was indeed a great way for the community to come together and enjoy themselves, and for me, what better way to be introduced to the real East End!
