Churches come together to organise weekend of free family-friendly activities

A weekend of free family-friendly activities is being organised in Caerphilly town, thanks to the efforts of a number of church groups.

Events will be held on the Owain Glyndwr playing fields, on Crescent Road, between Friday June 20 and Sunday June 22.

It kickstarts with a youth event between 6.30pm and 8.30pm on Friday, before a family fun day on Saturday between 2pm and 4pm.

On Saturday evening, between 6pm and 7.30pm, there will be American line dancing and life stories, thanks to the organisers’ partnership with Parkhill Baptist – a church from the US state of Arkansas.

Then, on Sunday, there will be a ‘Church in the Park’ event from 11am, followed by a family picnic.

The events are being organised by Abertridwr Community Church, Bethel Baptist Bedwas, Bethel Baptist Penyrheol, Connect Life Caerphilly, Gateway Church, Love Caerphilly, and Penyrheol Chapel – with around 100 volunteers involved altogether.

Pastor Steve Harris, a member of the organising team, said: “It all began in 2021, when a few of the churches in Caerphilly wanted to provide an outdoor family fun event for families who were in the midst of lockdown restrictions.

“In 2022, this grew into what has become an annual event. The first year was based around the Queen’s Jubilee and then the Coronation in 2023.

“We continued in 2024 because the churches could see the that a free annual family fun event was meeting a need in our local community, and the churches loved to join together to make it happen.” 

Rev Steve continued: “We have always wanted the whole event to be free, so local churches raised the funds to make it happen.

“It is not just an event for those who attend church but the whole community. We want the people of Caerphilly to know that the church in Caerphilly is very active in the local community, and many churches are currently seeing growth.

“We now have seven churches who help make the event happen, and many others who support the weekend’s activities.”