This year, SALC submitted a bid to Suffolk County Council for the opportunity to be part of the SCC marquee at the Suffolk Show. We were delighted when our application was successful, and last week the SALC team proudly represented town and parish councils across Suffolk during the two-day event.
The theme of the marquee was Jurassic Park, and all exhibitors were encouraged to align their displays and activities with the theme. Our objective was to showcase the important work of town and parish councils and raise awareness of the invaluable contribution they make to communities throughout Suffolk.
With hot, sunny weather throughout the event, the show attracted fantastic crowds. Over the two days, we handed out 1,000 dinosaur stickers and 1,000 packets of wildflower seeds to enthusiastic children and adults alike.
One of our most popular activities invited visitors to place a sticker on a map to show which parish they had travelled from. This sparked many interesting conversations, a few geography lessons, and highlighted just how far people travel to attend the Suffolk Show. Visitors came from all corners of the county and even beyond.
We also hosted an ideas wall where visitors could share suggestions for improving their local communities. The contributions from children were particularly inspiring and reminded us of the unique perspective and creativity that young people bring. Visitors were then invited to vote for their favourite ideas by placing coloured balls into jars. The overall winners were more green spaces, improved local services, and better transport links.
Children also had the opportunity to dress up as a mayor and try out a ceremonial gavel, an activity they embraced with great enthusiasm!
While these activities may not have appeared directly linked to SALC's day-to-day work, they proved to be excellent conversation starters. They gave us valuable opportunities to explain the role of local councils in greater depth and encourage people to become more involved in local democracy by attending parish meetings or considering roles as clerks or councillors.
We were also generously provided with a beautiful reading chair by OLP Online Playgrounds. Visitors enjoyed taking a moment to sit, relax, and read dinosaur-themed books after spending time exploring the show. To share this wonderful addition with the wider community, we ran a competition for our members, offering the chance to win the chair for a local school. The draw took place on 2 June, and we are delighted to announce that the winner was Hoxne Parish Council - St Edmund's Primary School, Hoxne.
As this was SALC's first presence at the Suffolk Show, we were unsure what to expect. However, the experience exceeded all expectations. The team thoroughly enjoyed the event, and we greatly valued the many conversations, connections, and interactions we had over the two days.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by our stand to say hello. We also made a number of valuable new contacts, and we look forward to bringing some of these connections to our members through future training sessions and networking events.
Until next year!