Waterside Together has packed programme of events and open calls for May, June and July

Programmes will be delivered in parks, greenways and community spaces targeting a range of participants including families, children and young people, older people, and members of the BAME [Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic] community.

Part of the programme will be a shared space festival that promotes the communal usage of the green infrastructure in the Waterside and which encourages the movement of people to areas that they would not usually use for recreational purposes.

Rhymes in the Park

Rhymes in the Park will take place on Thursday, June 5 and Thursday, June 19 from 10-11.30am at Clooney Play Park for some outdoor fun! In the case of rain, the sessions will take place in the Clooney Community Centre.

Delivering rhymes, games, art and seed planting activities, and with a playful musical element, this preschool session is a fun and creative way to engage your tots, using familiar English rhymes and songs, as well as learning about colours, local animal and plant species, and even circus skills! The sessions are primarily through English with a small focus on Ulster Scots and Irish.

This is a collaboration with An Cultúrlann and Clooney Community Centre.

Children must be supervised by a parent or carer at all times.

Bookings via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rhymes-in-the-park-tickets-1328067358219 or by emailing [email protected].

Tea in the Park

An afternoon of tea, chat, and gentle movement in this get together for people aged 50+ on Saturday, May 31 from 2-5pm at St Columb’s Park.

Echo Echo Dance Theatre will get the energy flowing with a gentle movement and mindfulness session followed by a reminiscence and storytelling gathering facilitated by Janice Witerspoon of Armstrong Storytelling Trust around the theme of a cup of tea, social gatherings around tea, traditions, and personal histories. Tea, coffee, and scones will be provided. A minibus service will be provided for anyone who requires it.

Bookings via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tea-in-the-park-tickets-1333722924169 or by contacting: [email protected] or 00353860888353.

Open call for old photographs of the Waterside!

Are you aged 65 or over? Do you have a favourite old photograph of the Waterside hidden away in your attic? We want to see how the Waterside used to look!

Waterside Together is running a photography call-out focused on images of the Waterside, with winning submissions being selected as part of a Shared Spaces calendar. The calendar will be given out for free across the Waterside.

If your photograph is selected, you will be invited to a show-and-tell session where you will be invited to discuss the origins of the photograph and what drew you to it.

Photography programme for youths aged 15-18

As part of the Shared Spaces programme, Waterside Together will also be running a series of four workshops for young people with an interest in photography, and aged between 15-18.

Participants will be taught how to take photographs, going out on street and landscape photography excursions with a trained facilitator, followed by lessons in how to print them in a black and white darkroom.

Each participant will then have a photograph included in the intergenerational Shared Spaces photo calendar that will be distributed across the Waterside.

Register by email at [email protected] or phone 00353860888353.