Easter Hunt 19 April 2019

Now an annual event, our Good Friday Easter Hunt is on Friday 19th April 2019 11am-2pm.

Entry is by silver donation, plus £3 per child who wishes to take part in the Easter Hunt. Please note this is a fundraising event and so there will be small charges for some of the activities and for the refreshments. But there is plenty that is free, including the farm and playground.

There will be all the usual fun including a raffle, tombola, hot & cold refreshments and children’s activities such as decorating biscuits and decorating our trees. You can also visit our city farm and play in the adventure playground. 

If you can help out on the day, donate raffle prizes or home-baked goodies, please contact Nikki on 01733 340605 or drop off items at New Ark anytime Monday to Friday between 8.30m and 5.30pm. A downloadable poster is here.

Christmas and New Year opening

Our playgroup sessions end on Wednesday 19th December

We are running school holiday playground sessions on Thursday 20th and Friday 21st December.

We are then closed for two weeks for Christmas and New Year. Staff and volunteers will be carrying out Repairs and Maintenance on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th January.

On Monday 7th January playgroup and playground afterschool sessions return to normal.

 

Playground and Eco funding awards

We are delighted to bring you news of the below two funding donations

Morrison’s Foundation

The Morrisons Foundation have just awarded us £20,000 to spend on playground improvements! We have lots of plans for this much needed funding, which will make a real difference in the playground. Thank you Morrisons Foundation.

Tesco Bags of Help

Earlier this year we were awarded £4,000 by the Tesco Bags of Help scheme for our Eco Garden. We used this to:
– Survey all the tree on the sit and carry out the recommended remedial work.
– Repair the wooden play structure which we’d previously had to close. It’s now back to full use by our preschool children and toddler group.
– Buy a new set of waterproofs for the preschool children who use our Eco Centre, so they can be outside and stay dry whatever the weather is doing.

Christmas Bazaar – 24 November

Our fundraising Christmas Bazaar is an annual tradition, with hot food, children’s activities, outdoor play and the city farm. Entrance is by silver donation. Please help us advertise by printing out and putting up this poster somewhere that it will be seen.

Other ways you can help with our fundraising:
* Make donations of chocolate, bottles of drink and toiletries for our hamper and raffle.
* Bake homemade cakes for our cake stall; please include a list of ingredients.
* Help us spread the word by inviting your friends/sharing the event.
* Attend the event and have lots of fun!

Planned activities include:

Main building 12-3pm Activities include * treasure hunt * cake stall * gift tombola * children’s tombola * soft toy stall * chocolate tombola. We also have refreshments for sale, including hot food

Adventure playground 12-3pm Open for playing dependent on weather

City Farm – open 12.30-3pm * feeding our animals * sponsor an animal * buy reindeer food, and more

Father Christmas
This year Santa’s grotto will be located in our Eco Centre between 12.30 and 2.30pm. Tickets are on sale now for £3 to include a small gift. If you want to guarantee having an age-appropriate gift/rough timeslot then please prebook by calling Nikki on 01733 340605. A few tickets may be available on the day of the bazaar.

Open Day – 6 October 2018

Help to spread the word about New Ark by inviting your friends to come and visit during our annual community open day on Saturday 6th October 2018 noon-2pm, with entry by silver donation. Or download a copy of our open day 2018 poster  and put it on display somewhere that parents will see it.

All areas of New Ark will be open including our city farm, eco centre, play support building and of course our playground. Come and see our history trail, meet our animals, explore our woodland garden and play in our traditional adventure playground. Our 2017-18 Annual Report will also be available to members and supporters.

Entry on the day will be by silver donation to our charity. We’ll also be selling refreshments. Donations of cakes and other bakes are very much appreciated to help us with this – please let us know that you can help by calling 01733 340605.

Fundraising news and future events

As you may have heard, New Ark is having our funding from Peterborough City Council phased out over the next 3 years. We use this funding to:
– Pay the playworker staff who run our public sessions.
– Keep costs affordable to all parents.
– Enable families/children in need to access New Ark.

We will have to meet the shortfall at the end of this period.

If you have ideas to help our management committee overcome this funding gap, please do contact us. Our charity needs a wealth of people with different skills, so maybe you could even join our committee.

Some of the ways that YOU can help to make sure New Ark’s future is secured:
– Help us get sponsorship from local businesses.
– Nominate us to your employer’s fundraising or community support scheme.
– Organise fundraising events on behalf of New Ark. Attend those that are organised by others.
– Tell us about funding applications, or nominate us if you are asked for suggestions
– Make donations of money, resources and materials to us
– Offer us your time. No contribution is too small!

In the meantime we are continuing to apply for grants and funding – you can find news on two recent successful funding applications here.

And of course we continue to fundraise, for which we rely heavily on the generosity of our parents and the local community. A round up of last year’s fundraising activity is in our most recent annual report. Thank you to everyone who helped us in any way – we have tried to include as many of your fundraising achievements as possible in the annual report.

Future fundraising events for your diary are below, please make a note in your diary now, and do contact us if you are willing to help us with these events. You can help us to make them into awesome fundraisers!

Edit… Please note that since this page was first published the date of our 2019 Summer Festival has now changed to Saturday 22 June.

Summer 2018 activities

Our 2018 summer holiday sessions are aimed at school-aged children and will be running Monday-Friday from 23rd July until 31 August. We will be closed on Monday 27th August for the bank holiday.

Our theme for play sessions during the summer holidays is Seaside, Pirates, Mermaids and Travel. As part of this we will be making a display and focusing on the following:
Week 1  Handprint mermaids and ice cream cones
Week 2  Design your pirate ship flag
Week 3  Mermaids and mermen
Week 4  Sand bottles and messages in a bottle
Week 5  Treasure boxes and shell frames
Week 6  Children’s choice (and Pirate’s Picnic, weather permitting)

Some of the regular activities we have planned include den building, baking, outdoor fires and a water slide (weather permitting). Our adventure playground and city farm will also be open daily.

And we are also holding more of our popular Eco Sessions which include activities such as natural crafts, shelter building, charcoal making, bug hunts, pond dipping and volcano building. Eco sessions run on the following dates between 9.30-12 noon and cost £3 per session if registered with New Ark, or £5 as a one off.
Tuesday 24 July
Thursday 26 July
Tuesday 31 July
Thursday 2 August
Tuesday 7 August
Thursday 9 August
Tuesday 14 August
Thursday 16 August
Tuesday 21 August
Thursday 23 August

If your child is particularly keen to attend any of these activities, please speak to a member of staff to book onto them/find out when they are running.

To find out more about our school holiday play sessions and childcare, see here

Summer Festival 23 June 2018

Our annual summer fete has entertainment, hot food and more. Our city farm, adventure playground and eco garden will all be open. There will be lots of fundraising games, crafts, our summer raffle and lots more.

This year we have a magical Unicorn and Dragons theme. You can dress up, join in our hunt, play games and have all the usual farm and adventure playground fun.

Entry is by silver donation, all welcome to attend whether or not you are registered at New Ark.

Please help to publicise our fundraising event by sharing this event and inviting friends who might enjoy the day. You can also download our poster to print and display

Planned closures

Please note that New Ark will be closed for Repairs and Maintenance on the following dates:

  • Thursday 29th March (all day)
  • Monday 16th April 3-6pm (affecting after-school sessions only)
  • Monday 3rd September (all day)
  • Tuesday 4th September (all day)

If you can help us carry out Repairs and Maintenance to our site please contact us on 01733 340605. The kind of things we need help with are:

• People to paint, clean, garden, sort and organise – both individuals and group working parties are welcomed.

• Donations of cleaning products including bleach, scourers, cleansers, cloths, etc.

• Unwanted tins of paint – unopened or recently opened

• Money, so that we can repair/replace anything faulty as we find it. You can make an online donation at www.localgiving.com/charity/newarkplay